


True Affection Floats

by somethingaboutwriting



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Actually so much fluff though, Allura & Lance Siblings, Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid Fusion, Disney AU, Merman Lance, Multi, Mutual Pining, Royal Keith, Royal Shiro, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, broganes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-13 11:17:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 34,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11758707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingaboutwriting/pseuds/somethingaboutwriting
Summary: Under the sea, Lance dreams of living in the human world, disobeying his sister Allura's rules left and right. On land, Keith is tired of his royal life in which nothing ever happens. That is, until his ship wrecks and he is rescued by a mysterious boy with white hair and bright blue eyes.A fluffy little(ish) fic about two hopelessly oblivious boys falling in love in a Disney universe. What could go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so excited to finally be posting this fic! It's been so much fun writing it, I hope you enjoy reading it. Please leave Kudos and comments if you do! :)
> 
> Title and the lyric at the beginning are both from the song True Affection by The Blow. Check it out if you're interested, it was basically my theme song while writing this.

_I was out of your league, and you were twenty thousand underneath the sea. . ._

 

Keith loved the sea. It was so vast and open and unexplored; no one truly knew what lay in its murky depths. He appreciated the mystery, the feeling of not knowing, of never being able to know. Being out on the water was one of the only places he felt like himself- there was something indefinable that made it feel like home. It had taken a lot of begging and pleading for Shiro to let him go with the fishermen this afternoon, but it was worth it. The air was fresh and salty and a crisp ocean breeze tugged at his hair. To be honest, after the visitors they had just dealt with, Keith deserved a bit of time out at sea; he deserved a _break._

See, it wasn’t that he necessarily _hated_ the princess of Gallowa. It was just that she was the most obnoxious person he had ever had the misfortune of meeting. That girl’s voice was like nails on a chalkboard and she almost _never stopped talking_. She and her father had been visiting for two weeks, which were spent enduring both of their not-so-subtle hints that they should “unite the kingdoms” through marriage. It was lucky that they had left when they did, or else Keith might just have thrown himself off the highest tower in the palace. 

Now, he watched as three sailors hauled a net of fish onto the deck and jogged over to help them. Being the prince meant that whenever he went out on a trip with them, they got a lot of attention. Anyone else would probably love that sort of thing, but these sailors strongly preferred dealing with gigantic waves of water over gigantic waves of people. They had probably gotten used to it by now, seeing as he had been going out on trips with them since he was little, but he still felt guilty whenever he tagged along. He figured it was only fair for him to help out wherever he could. 

Besides, the fishermen made much better company on boats than Shiro. They were always telling Keith legends about the mermaids who supposedly lived in the depths of the ocean (which he had eaten up ever since he was a kid) to pass the time. His adopted brother and soon-to-be-king, however, spent most of these kinds of voyages bent over the side of the ship, green in the face.

When all the nets had been pulled up, Keith sat down across from a stout, red-haired fisherman with a scruffy beard and began helping him transfer fish from nets into barrels for storage. He looked up at Keith and grinned, his smile full of yellowed teeth. 

“A fine day to be at sea- Princess Allura must be in a fantastic mood today for the weather to be like this!” said the sailor.

Keith recognized the name. Princess Allura was supposedly the ruler of the merpeople, set to be crowned Queen soon according to the tales of the sailors. In the legends, she was fierce, strong and compassionate; a wonderful leader. She took the job very seriously. Keith liked to joke that she and Shiro would get along. 

Another fisherman behind them rolled his eyes as he set down a full barrel of fish. “Oh please, everybody knows that merpeople are just a myth. They’re not _real._ ” 

The first fisherman frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, I’ve seen one. With my own two eyes, _Gerald_. Only for a second mind you, but enough for me to know they’re down there somewhere. There could be one on the seafloor below us right now and there’d be no way to tell.” He emphasized his point by motioning at the other guy (Gerald?) with a fish. 

Keith tuned out eventually as the two continued their argument. He stared out at the water, wondering if a mermaid actually was out there somewhere doing cool mermaidy things and he didn’t even know it.

_Wonder if I’ll ever see a mermaid._

*****

Technically, Lance wasn’t supposed to be here; then again, when did he ever do what he was supposed to?

This time, he was perched on a discarded wooden mast, most likely broken off of the sunken ship that loomed before him. It was dark, abandoned for many years, and Lance had _finally_ managed to escape Allura’s gaze long enough to sneak out and investigate. He readjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder impatiently, his light blue tail drifting lazily beneath him. He would be exploring its inky black corridors right at that very _moment_ if Hunk weren’t so late. 

Lance didn’t have all day to wait around for him, though; if he was gone too long, Allura would start to get suspicious. If she figured out where he was. . . well, his sister could and would kick his ass. When you grew up with someone like Allura, you learned to avoid messing with her. Deciding that he couldn’t risk it any longer, he left his perch on the mast and with a flick of his tail began to make his way towards the vessel blotting out the sun. Of course, as soon as he did so, he heard the voice of his very tense, very _late_ friend. 

“Lance, wait up man! Hey, _wait!”_ shouted Hunk, just now swimming past the very mast that had been Lance’s seat for the past half hour. 

“Where have you been?? Do you know how long I’ve been waiting here?” complained Lance loudly, waiting for Hunk to catch up. 

“You should have made your hand signals clearer, I can’t be expected to interpret that garbage perfectly every time, buddy,” Hunk countered. Then he made a face like he was sucking on a lemon, which Lance knew meant he was about to launch into his usual worry rant. They happened almost without fail every time he and Hunk snuck away to do something human-related. Sure enough, as soon as Hunk reached him he launched into his spiel.

“Should we even be out here? I mean, you know what Princess Allura is like about humans and- no seriously, hear me out- there could be sharks in this area, Lance. Actual sharks. I don’t know about you, but I’m not in the mood to be eaten today.”

Luckily for Lance, this had happened often enough that he knew exactly how to deal with Hunk when he got like this. Being friends with someone since childhood had its advantages. Lance turned towards him, raised an eyebrow and put his hands on his hips. 

“Okay, you stay here. By yourself. All alone with the sharks. Let me know if you see one, okay?” he said, unsurprised at Hunk’s answering “OKAY FINE JUST DON’T LEAVE ME!”

Close up, Lance could really see the evidence of the ship’s many years underwater- barnacles and coral were growing all over the wooden sides of the ship. Fish were constantly swimming in and out of large portholes, one of which had fallen out and left a hole big enough for him and Hunk to swim through. 

It took a moment for Lance’s eyes to adjust to the darkness inside the ship, but as soon as they did he took off. He roamed the hallways with a childlike glee, Hunk following reluctantly behind him. His excitement reached an all time high when they entered what Lance suspected to be some sort of dining hall. It had a large window on one side and was relatively empty except for one thing: a shining silver object laying harmlessly on some debris. 

Within a moment of spotting it he bolted towards it. He held it up to the light coming in through the window to examine it properly, admiring it. Lance’s focus was now devoted entirely to this strange object, the rest of the ship forgotten completely. 

“Hunk, oh my god, look what I found, have you ever seen anything so awesome in your entire existence?!” he marvelled, turning it over between his fingers. 

“Other than me, of course,” he added, as an afterthought.

Hunk ignored that last comment, limiting himself to rolling his eyes (he too knew how to reap the benefits of lifelong friendship). As much as he complained about these little ‘adventures’, Lance knew that Hunk secretly enjoyed finding new human stuff. Though, not always for the right reasons:

“You know what this would be perfect for? There’s this project I’ve been working on and those prongs would fit just right-,” 

“Oh no you don’t, you stay away from my discovery, heathen. This isn’t becoming a spare part, it’s going straight to Pidge, thank you very much. That lunatic knows everything about humans,” said Lance. He stuffed the silver object in his bag, swimming towards the door. Hunk pouted as he followed, shoulders slumped in defeat. 

The two mermen were lucky for two reasons. 

First, because if anyone had been passing by they would have certainly heard Hunk’s complaints (“Oh sure, you’re allowed to steal whatever you want but _I’m_ not allowed to use one thing, that makes total sense. Remind me why I ever go along with these things??” “Because you love me and support me like a good friend, Hunk.” “See? This is what I’m talking about, you can’t just be nice and expect me to forgive you immediately. I mean. . . I _do_ love and support you but that’s not the _point. . ._ ”) and they would have been busted.

Second, because had they stayed only a little longer, Hunk would have been right about running into a shark. 

*****

Finding a moment of peace was damn near impossible when you were the royal scientist, so Pidge was enjoying this one while it lasted. They were certain that it would come to an end very soon however, accounting for the two figures swimming towards them in the distance. One was obviously Lance, whose bright white hair always made him stick out like a sore thumb; it ran only in the royal family. The other was, again, obviously Hunk, broadly built with that orange headband tied at all times around his forehead. 

Pidge sighed and adjusted the strap of their seaweed tank top on their shoulder, accepting that no more work would be accomplished that day if those two had anything to do with it. They started packing up their equipment mournfully, wondering what the two boys could possibly want this time. Rover, a small jellyfish that had been one of Pidge’s first experiments with bioluminescence, floated at all times near their head. He wasn’t really _helpful,_ but it was nice to have him around to talk to (even if he never actually responded). 

At the very least, they would be able to ask Hunk about the suspicion they had about there being magic involved in a strange seaweed-like specimen they had been examining. Plus, if the two of them were visiting to get Pidge to ‘assess’ some human junk, that meant they would be able to mess with Lance again, which was one of the highlights of their friendship. The arrangement was perfect: Lance was gullible enough to wholeheartedly believe any crap Pidge spouted about the human stuff he found and Hunk was too nice to break the truth to him. And, sure enough:

“PIDGE! HEY, PIDGE! _PIDGE!_ WE’VE GOT SOME STUFF WE NEED YOU TO CHECK OU-,” shouted Lance before Pidge stopped him mid-word.

“You really don’t need to shout when I’m five feet away from you, Lance,” they said, their large round glasses gleaming as they adjusted them.

Lance huffed and was about to continue at what Pidge hoped would be a more appropriate volume when Hunk noticed what they had been working on. 

“What the heck are these, Pidge? They practically _scream_ enchantment, where did you get them??” he asked, poking and prodding at the dark green plants.

“Hunk, don’t touch those! They’re delicate!” they said, smacking Hunk’s hand. “I got them from Coran for examination, apparently they were found just along the edge of our border. I have a hunch that they’re magical, I’ve been meaning to ask you about them.”

Hunk wasn’t given a chance to respond, as Lance intervened, clearly uninterested in this topic. He reached into his purse (he maintained indignantly that it was a _manly satchel_ any time Pidge referred to it as a purse to his face) and pulled out a silver fork. He held it delicately, like it might shatter at any moment. 

Now, Pidge knew very well that this was a fork, but there would be no fun in just telling him that, would there? 

So they told him the first ridiculous word that came into their head (dinglehopper) and that it was used for hairstyling. Lance, as usual, ate it up. Hunk’s looks of dismay always managed to make them feel just a bit guilty, but as usual, he didn’t say anything, so he was basically just as in on it as they were! Pidge had a sneaking suspicion that he secretly thought it was kind of funny.

While Lance marvelled over the fork, stars in his eyes, Hunk turned to Pidge. 

“Lance wants to sneak up to the surface for lunch, and I, as the responsible one, have to tag along to make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble. Wanna come?”

Lance ignored the jab. “Yeah, Pidge, you should come with us! We’re gonna hit the beach, maybe even see some humans. . .” 

He waggled his eyebrows at them, which wasn’t all that convincing. 

“I think I’ll pass, thanks,” Pidge replied. They weren’t exactly fond of the human race, considering that their brother and father had gone missing in the human world. Both of them had always been fascinated with that culture and had secretly disobeyed Allura to go to the surface. It was meant to be undercover observation without interaction. Pidge had no idea what had happened up there, but after the swift, whispered, middle-of-the-night goodbyes, Sam and Matt Holt had never been seen again. Their mother believed something must have gone wrong with the magic of their transformation, as they had never been very forthcoming about the details in that area. At any rate, Pidge wasn’t particularly excited about that kind of trip.

“Your loss!” said Lance, shrugging, then with a wave he and Hunk were on their way. 

In hindsight, maybe Pidge should have reminded Lance about the super-important meeting that involved all the diplomats of Altea taking place that afternoon. But even he wasn’t enough of an idiot to forget about that, right? Besides, their dumb picnic probably wouldn’t last long anyway; they’d likely get attacked by seagulls for their food as soon as they started eating.

*****

“WHERE THE HELL DID ALL THESE SEAGULLS COME FROM?” screamed Lance as he and Hunk tried desperately to shoo away the swarm of white birds surrounding them. “AND HOW DO THEY KNOW TO ALL COME AT ONCE?”

Hunk swatted at one that had started pulling at his headband and shouted back, “I DON’T KNOW AND I DON’T CARE, LET'S JUST GET OUT OF HERE!” 

Thus ended the beach picnic. Human sightings: 0

*****

_“Haggar. Sendak. I want you to keep a particularly close eye on that arrogant prince. He may be the key to the soon-to-be-queen’s undoing,” said a dark, purple figure. An image of a young merprince and his friend diving into the ocean to avoid a swarm of seagulls danced across a shining golden orb.Black tentacles curled menacingly through the water as two yellow-eyed eels nodded solemnly._

_In unsettlingly perfect unison, they spoke: “As you command, Majesty. We live to serve.”_

_The banished Galra creature turned his back and retreated into his cave, as the two eels swam silently out the tunnel._

***** 

“Look, Allura, it’s really not that big of a deal-,” started Lance, but his sister was quick to cut him off. 

“Not that big of a deal? Lance, you do realize how bad this looks? We worked tirelessly for _weeks_ to make sure that nothing went awry, then the day of you just decide it isn’t worth your precious time?” Princess Allura crossed her arms angrily as she paused from her tirade to take a breath, none of which Lance thought was very fair. Just when he thought he’d be able to get a word in, her advisor, Coran, started up on him.

“You know Lance, in my day, princes were under strict supervision at all times, none of this mucking about. This is a disgrace! A scandal for your entire family! The dishonour will never-.” He stopped as Allura placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Yes, let’s not go overboard, but Coran is. . . mostly right. Though I’m sure the diplomats will forgive your absence, it will take time, and this reflects badly on our whole family, not just on you. Our people look to all of us for guidance and you are not excluded from the responsibility that comes with that,” she lectured, disappointment written all over her face. 

This tended to happen a lot. Lance was surprised that _they_ were surprised that he had forgotten about it entirely. The two of them knew very well he wasn’t interested in long-winded dinner parties in which no one said what they really meant. They were exhausting. No matter how much Allura insisted he had ‘diplomatic potential’, his presence never changed anything about the outcome of the meetings. Besides, it was her job as future queen to take care of the boring things, not his. She was the one who would be ruling the ocean!

Allura must have noticed the indifference in his face, because she was suddenly out of her throne and gliding towards him. Hiding her emotions was one of her many skills, but he could read her just as well as she could read him. Right now, repressed stress and frustration were set deep in the creases between her eyebrows, in the tightness of her shoulders. Allura thought he didn’t understand that the meeting was important. Which he did! Of course he did, he was the prince. It had been ground into his brain from day one that often the boring things were the important things. It wasn’t that he thought the _meeting_ didn’t matter, just that his not being there didn’t matter. None of the stuffy diplomats ever cared to hear what the stuck-up prince had to say, anyway.

“How can you not understand how serious this is? I am putting everything I have into preparing to rule this kingdom,” said Allura, the weight of it evident in her eyes. Lance had to admit she had a point; she looked more stressed nowadays than he had ever seen her. In fact, he barely saw his sister anymore apart from when she had to lecture him. He cursed her for having played the stress card as he felt guilt begin to coil in his stomach. It quickly disappeared, though, due to what she said next. “It seems like you’re putting everything _you_ have into _making things difficult!”_

Though somewhere deep down he knew that she didn’t mean it, her words stung. He knew that she was stressed and probably hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a long time, but that didn’t stop him from feeling insulted. She had chosen those words specifically to make him feel insecure, like a disappointment- she wanted him to feel more guilty. They had the opposite effect; indignation had flooded his body like a tidal wave. Lance was about to act on it and say something he would probably regret when Hunk cut in suddenly from behind him.

“Look, it wasn’t his fault, alright?!” he exclaimed, in what Lance figured had been an impulsive surge of protectiveness. He appreciated the loyalty, but his friend’s bravery was dissipating as quickly as it had come in the face of a single raised eyebrow from Allura.

“We were, uh, on our way here, y-yeah, on our way here, and then there was this _shark_ , and it tried to kill us, and we barely escaped.” Hunk’s confidence returned as he plowed through the excuse. Lance had a moment of hope where he thought Hunk may have actually succeeded in covering their asses when his friend got a little bit carried away. “. . .then there were these _seagulls_ and I swear they wouldn’t leave us alone and then-,” 

Lance slapped a hand over Hunk’s mouth, but it was too late. The damage had been done. Allura had simply been exasperated and weary before, barely even frustrated as she was so used to his antics. Now, however, she looked as though she had been struck, her usual formal posture slipping for a moment as she backed away slightly. The weakness lasted for only a moment before her eyes hardened and her lips pressed into a firm line, adapting to the situation as if Lance were just another out-of-line citizen to be punished.

“You went to the surface,” said Allura, voice flat and emotionless. It wasn’t a question.

Lance winced. “Allura, we were just-.”

She held a hand up silently, stopping him in his tracks. “You are not a child, Lance, much as you act like it. Do I really need to remind you, of all people, why our laws are in place?”

“Of course not! Maybe you’ve forgotten, but he was my father too. But- look, there’s _no way_ every single human is a monster, that’s insane.”

“Really? Have _you_ forgotten that they have slaughtered our kind for centuries, not just our father? That there are so few merpeople left that we have become mere myth to them?” she demanded icily. Lance could see that she was fighting to keep her temper in check now. He raised placating hands in the air, attempting to salvage the situation. “We were barely even up there for five minutes, okay? Nobody saw us!”

“And what if they had?” she asked, fingers going white from gripping her trident too tightly. “What would I have possibly done if they had taken you from us too? I will not allow that to happen. It’s time you learned that I am not only your sister but also about to be your queen, and you must respect my laws accordingly! If I find out you have gone anywhere _near_ the human world again, you will not leave this palace until you decide to grow up. That will be all. You may go.”

Lance blanched, unable to believe that he was being _dismissed_ like he was just another one of her many appointments to take care of. “Allura-,” he tried again, but she slammed her trident into the floor of the throne room, her patience clearly gone. 

“I said go, Lance!”

He didn’t try to protest again. Throwing one last disbelieving look over his shoulder, he steered Hunk towards the door and out of the throne room. 

Well, it wasn’t like Lance could say he was really surprised by her reaction.

Ever since the death of their father at the hands of pirates, Allura had been stringent in her ban on trips to the surface and interactions with humans of any kind. She and King Alfor had been immensely close, and she didn’t leave her room for weeks afterward. His death had come only a couple years after that of their mother, Queen Ariella. Lance had been only seventeen when he and his six sisters had become orphans. 

Allura wouldn’t be coronated for a few months, when she turned twenty-one, but she had basically assumed the role of queen already. With Coran’s help, she had taken on nearly all the responsibilities the job entailed and they took an obvious toll on her. 

Lance didn’t know what to do about it. In fact, he wasn’t sure there was anything he _could_ do. So he swam quickly out the grand double doors and refused to look back, blocking out Allura and Coran’s whispered conversation as the advisor attempted to console her.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, here's the next chapter! Thank you so much for all the kudos and comments, it's so cool that people are reading and enjoying this fic.   
> Again, if you're wondering, the title and song lyrics at the beginning of the chapters are from the song True Affection by The Blow.

_Waving affections. . ._

 

“Coran, I’m failing, I can’t even get my own brother to follow my rules! I’ve failed him, I’ve failed all of them, I’ve failed this entire _kingdom-_ ,” 

“Whoa, slow down there princess. You’re blowing this a bit out of proportion, don’t you think? This is Lance we’re talking about. He thinks he knows everything, not to mention he knows exactly how to push your buttons.” Coran patted Allura’s arm reassuringly as she slumped, defeated and tired, onto her throne. 

“I know, I know, but. . . what am I going to do about him?” she asked miserably, still a little in shock by her own loss of patience earlier. 

“Well, Lance is quite the troublemaker. In fact, in my day, his actions would have caused him to be under constant supervision. Someone watching him at all times, keeping an eye on him. . .” Coran stroked his moustache thoughtfully, caught up in memories and unaware that his thoughts were being taken into serious consideration.

Allura’s eyes lit up instantaneously and her sour mood brightened. “Coran, that’s brilliant! You can watch Lance and make sure he doesn’t go somewhere or do something he’s not supposed to! You’re a genius,” she said, wide grin adorning her face. Coran blinked.

“Well, I’m flattered of course, but as honed as my spying skills are, I believe Lance would notice if I started following him around everywhere.”

Allura grinned mischievously and pointed her trident at him. “True. I doubt, however, that he would notice a _crab_ following him around everywhere. Thank you Coran, this means the world to me.”

The trident glowed and Coran gulped. This was going to be. . . an _interesting_ experience.

*****

Coran was bored. He had been watching Lance hang out with his younger sisters from the window to their shared bedroom for nearly two hours now. As endearing as it was to watch him braid Attina’s hair or put a face mask on a five-year-old, it got a bit old seeing said five-year-old, Alana, hang off his arm for the hundredth time that night. Coran breathed out a sigh of relief when Lance guided her towards her bed, but leaned forward to hear what she said when she pointed at another bed, crisply made and seemingly untouched, in the far corner of the room. 

“When is Allura coming back?” she asked sleepily as Lance tucked her in. The prince frowned slightly but didn’t pause his task as he answered.

“Soon, I promise, she just. . . has a lot of stuff to finish up. It’s hard work being almost-queen!” he responded, kissing his youngest sibling on the forehead. “Now go to sleep, you know as well as I do that it’s way past your bedtime!”

Alana seemed to accept that answer, rolling over and closing her eyes. Lance leaned forward and clicked off the lamp just behind her headboard. Coran watched as he gave the room one final sweep of his gaze to make sure everyone was getting ready for bed. Sometimes Coran had no idea how Lance had survived growing up with six sisters, but he was always close with all of them. Before their father’s death, he and Allura especially would spend a lot of time together. Now, however, with all of her duties and her newfound strictness, they had. . . drifted apart a bit. Allura had drifted from all of her siblings if Coran was completely honest with himself. 

The closest girl to Lance’s age other than Allura was Attina, who was three years younger than him. He watched the boy drift over to her and pluck the book she was reading out of her hands. She stuck her tongue out at him in response but still pulled her long white hair out of its bun and rolled over to turn her bedside lamp off. 

Across from her bed was Adella’s, which was occupied not just by Adella herself but also by Aquata, her twin. The two girls ceased their whispered conversation about a boy Adella had spoken to that day as Lance wrestled Aquata into her own bed just to the left. They each turned their lamps off simultaneously as their brother turned to check on Arista; an unnecessary action, as she was snoring with her tail on her pillow and her face smushed in her mattress. He clicked her light off too, until there were only two lamps left on: his own and Allura’s.

Their beds were closest to the door, across from each other. As Lance hesitated just a moment before turning off Allura’s lamp and moving to his bed, Coran was struck with the realization that Allura was not the only one to have gained responsibilities after Alfor’s passing. Lance carried burdens of his own, which should have been obvious as he and all his siblings were orphans, but there was something about the prince’s carefree nature that made it easy to forget that Alfor and Ariella had been his parents too.

Lance collapsed into his own bed and reached over to turn the final light out. “Night, guys.”

“Goodnight,” replied the five princesses, then silence.

That was when Coran started to second guess himself. Allura couldn’t possibly be expecting him to watch the prince all night, right? That would be ridiculous. 

He stayed poised on the windowsill another ten minutes or so, debating with himself whether or not to leave, when he saw Lance sit up in bed out of the corner of his eye. The merman looked around himself cautiously, verifying that his sisters were asleep, before gliding silently away from his bed and out the door. Coran shook his head exasperatedly, wondering why the quiznak he had ever agreed to this and cursing what a complete idiot Lance was. 

Coran was not surprised in the slightest when he saw Hunk and Pidge waiting outside the palace gates for Lance. Hunk was a good guy but was loyal enough that he was always easily convinced to join him on his weird schemes and adventures. An outsider might be surprised to see Pidge join them as well, but as much as they pretended to be exasperated with them at all times, Coran knew they secretly enjoyed hanging out with the two of them. The prince and his friends then swam off, Coran scrambling to catch up. _Allura is actually going to kill him. He’s dead. A goner. There’s no hope left for this boy_.

He hid behind a stone to watch as they approached a large grotto. Hunk shifted the rock covering the entrance just enough for him, Lance and Pidge to pass through; Coran had to rush to make it through unseen before Hunk sealed the entrance behind them. Lance stretched widely before flopping down on one of the stones in the grotto. Hunk plopped down onto a rock next to him, while Pidge leaned against a wall. Lance pulled out what appeared to be a fork from his bag and placed it tenderly into a candelabra, between a knife and spoon. 

Lance sighed, turned to Hunk and said “I just don’t get Allura. She really needs to let up on all this forbidden surface stuff, it’s getting a bit old, don’t you think?” 

Pidge leaned forward before Hunk could answer and gave him a look. “She _does_ have good reason to be afraid of humans. You and I, of all people, know that.” 

“Yeah, no offence bro, but I think Pidge is right- this isn’t something she’s just gonna get over one day out of the blue,” added Hunk.

Lance leaned back and groaned. “Yeah, yeah, I know, but I just don’t see how a world that makes such awesome things-” he gestured generally up at the rest of the grotto “-could be _all_ bad.” When Coran took a proper look around he almost gasped, remembering just in time that he had to remain hidden. Lance had used every ridge of the grotto like shelves, filling them with human trinkets stacked dangerously on top of one another. Coran had no idea how long he had been collecting all of this, but he knew Allura was certainly not going to like it. Not one bit. 

Lance then went on a very long, very detailed tangent about all the reasons that living on land and being human would be so much better. Coran had no idea how Hunk and Pidge could stand to endure this stuff all the time; he zoned out once Lance started wondering aloud what a fire would be like. 

Coran decided to take the opportunity while Lance was distracted by the sound of his own voice to explore the collection. As he crawled as quietly as possible across the ridges he could see trinkets of every size, shape and colour, a dizzying variety of human things ranging from paintings and books to corks and fish hooks. Everything was lit by bioluminescent plants, which he figured Pidge had probably supplied. 

Turning in a daze, he nearly jumped out of his own skin when he came face to face with a gigantic red crab. Lamentably, he forgot, in that moment, that he had been transformed into a crab. He did not realize that what he had seen was his own reflection and in his brief shock he knocked over several delicate vases. They went crashing down to the ocean floor and consequently sealed his doom.

Coran cringed and slowly turned to look towards Lance, Hunk and Pidge, who wore varying expressions of shock, dismay and resignedness on their faces.

“Coran?” asked Lance in disbelief as he swam up to where Allura’s advisor was perched. “Why are you a crab? Also, what the hell are you doing here??”

“Er, well, uh, you see, uh, Allura, she. . . wanted to make sure you didn’t get into any trouble and uh, well. . . she had me follow you around.” he admitted, wringing his new claws. Lance let out a bark of laughter and rolled his eyes, sinking lazily back down to the rock he had been sitting on. 

“God, my sister really _is_ crazy,” he said, leaning back with his hands behind his head. 

Coran found himself suddenly under the fascinated eyes of Hunk, claws and legs being poked and prodded curiously. 

“She must have used her trident for this, right? I mean, this is some pretty hardcore shape-shifting magic, not just an illusion or a shimmer- you actually _are_ a crab right now,” he said, in awe. “ _Awesome._ ”

“Hunk, quit pestering Coran. This is very much _not_ awesome. If he was sent here because of Allura, that means he’s gonna rat us out,” Pidge pointed out, crossing their arms suspiciously over their chest. Lance’s gaze snapped back to Coran as soon as his sister’s name was mentioned, eyebrows furrowing in suspicion.

“Listen, Coran, buddy, you’re not going to tell her, right?” he asked. 

Coran weighed his options. On the one hand, he could tell Allura about what he had seen. She would probably freak out, and Lance, who was like a son to him, would never trust him again. He would be left with two miserable royals. On the other hand, he could just _not_ tell Allura what he had seen, save her the stress, and keep his position as the cool uncle figure.

It was pretty obvious what was to be done, but he still didn’t like lying. He nodded slowly, saying, “I won’t go to Allura, but just so you know, I am not lying directly to her! If she asks me specifically if I saw anything out of the ordinary tonight, I’m telling her exactly what the three of you rascals have been up to!”

His lecture was pointless. In fact, the three had lost interest as soon as he had nodded, and were staring up at the window-like hole at the top of the grotto. At the looks of confusion and awe across their faces Coran looked up too, to discover that brilliantly coloured lights were exploding into existence just above the surface of the ocean. 

_Oh, quiznak. Lance is going to have a field day with this one._

*****

Lance allowed himself a moment to simply watch the gorgeous display from inside the grotto. Then, before the other three could stop him, he rushed towards the rock that blocked the entrance, pushed it out of the way and propelled himself as fast as possible towards the surface. 

He heard Hunk, Pidge and Coran calling out after him in the distance, but he elected to ignore them. This was far too interesting. His head broke the surface and his breath caught in his throat: it was a gigantic ship. His body seized for a moment with dread, unable to move, until he caught a glimpse of the flag: this was no pirate ship. In fact, it seemed to be a ship belonging to human royalty. The coloured lights they had seen from within the grotto were actually fireworks, so Lance guessed they must be celebrating something.

Who was Lance to miss out on a party?

He approached the ship quickly, jumping up and over a few of the larger waves until he was close enough to grab onto its wooden side. He shimmied across the bottom until he saw a few boards sticking out of the side leading up onto a perfect look-out perch. As he climbed, he figured they must use it as a ladder in the case of someone falling overboard. Finally, he was able to pull himself up and get a good look at what was happening on deck. 

Men in black and white striped uniforms were dancing around the deck in strange, intricate patterns while some others played what seemed to be human instruments. Lance watched the celebration, mesmerized by the way their feet and legs moved, until- he saw him.

A boy, about his age, with black hair, a slim frame and forgoing the striped uniform for a plain white shirt. He was sitting on the far side of the deck on a barrel, petting a ginger-coloured cat absent-mindedly. The boy seemed completely uninterested in whatever it was the others were celebrating. Most importantly, though: this guy was _hot_.

By now the other three had caught up with him and were sitting next to him on his perch. Hunk frowned at the entranced look on his face, followed his gaze and groaned audibly.

“Lance, _no,_ ” pleaded Hunk desperately. Pidge hadn’t yet caught onto what was going on and looked at Hunk in confusion. 

“What are you talking about?” they asked. Hunk pointed at the boy and Pidge let out a very similar groan. 

“Lance, please, for the love of all that is good in this world, _no._ ”

Lance didn’t even turn to look at them when he said, completely seriously, “Lance, _yes.”_

Coran seemed to be in shock now that he, too, had caught onto the meaning of their conversation. Pidge pinched the bridge of their nose while shaking their head and Hunk dragged a hand down his face. He was reprimanding the prince about the fact that the guy is a _human is your brain made of kelp_ when Lance shushed him and gestured towards the deck. The music had died down and the sailors were staring up at a man with a scar across his face and what looked to be a metal arm. Authority radiated off of him; this was a man to be listened to and respected. Even Coran, Hunk, Pidge and Lance, who weren’t under any jurisdiction he may hold, gave him their full attention when he began to speak.

*****

Shiro always made unnecessary speeches at times like this. Keith teased him all the time about it, because who else was going to tell the future king he was being lame? The task of calling his brother out on his dorkiness fell to Keith. This time, the speech was all about how Keith was growing up so fast and how Shiro remembered that even as a toddler he had had an intense vendetta against the world.

As sappy as his words were, Shiro was a natural born leader. The sailors were immediately entranced by his voice, just like anyone who ever heard him speak was. Never was it more obvious that Shiro was born to be a king than when he spoke in public. Keith half-listened, however, most of his attention devoted to petting Red. She circled in his lap as he scratched her behind the ears affectionately. He only turned his head towards Shiro when he heard the change in his tone of voice that meant his speech was coming to an end, attempting to seem like he had been listening attentively the whole time.

“Now I ask all of you to direct your attention to Commander Iverson, who commissioned this gift for Prince Keith on behalf of the crew. Commander?” Shiro gestured to a tall, square-jawed man with an eyepatch who stood and made his way towards his brother with a smug smile on his face.

“Thank you, your highness. I don’t really believe in lengthy speeches,” he said, oblivious to Shiro raising an eyebrow at him from behind, “so I will only say this: we wish for nothing but your well-being on this, your nineteenth birthday, Prince Keith.”

Keith nodded and tried his best to look respectful. The man gave a flick of his wrist, signalling for several sailors to begin carrying out an utterly gigantic _something_ covered up by a red cloth.

The sailors set it down with a loud, resonant **thud** , then lifted the cloth to reveal

An actual

**_FULL SIZED STATUE_**

Of Keith. 

The prince’s jaw dropped almost to the floor and he could see Shiro trying desperately to school his features into something resembling appreciation. After a moment of pure silence during which Keith demanded to know what he had done to deserve this, Iverson turned towards him with a self-satisfied smirk. 

Iverson, still completely oblivious, saw Keith’s face of pure shock and assumed that he loved it. 

“I knew you would like it,” he beamed.

Shiro stared at Keith, obviously delighted by how impossibly ridiculous this situation was, before Keith realized that he should probably respond. Give some sort of reaction other than wide eyes and a gaping hole for a mouth, maybe. Rubbing the back of his neck, he grasped at any sort of thankful words he could find. 

“It’s uh. . . it’s really. . . accurate,” he finally forced out. He clearly didn’t share his brother’s public speaking talent.

Iverson looked away from Keith back to the statue, admiring his own gift. 

“You know I had hoped that it would be a _wedding present,_ ” he said, fixing Keith with a pointed look. Keith had to fight not to roll his eyes at this statement and glanced over at Shiro for help, but his brother was still staring at the statue with a hand over his mouth in silent laughter.

“The princess of Gallowa and I . . . weren’t a good match,” grumbled the prince as he got up from his previous spot on the barrel. He made his way over to the other side of the ship and sat sprawled on the railing in an attempt to end the conversation, unaware of the three merpeople and the crab that were balanced just below him on the side of the ship.

You’d think that Shiro, as the eldest and next in line for the throne, would be the one being pressured to get married. No such luck- with so much to be prepared for his coronation, Shiro had enough on his plate, which meant the entire kingdom tended to nudge _Keith_ towards any eligible girl that visited the palace. Marriage alliances were somehow his responsibility now. He snorted to himself at the thought of marrying some snotty princess from far away. Keith had had enough experience with princesses to know that he was _not going to marry one_. If he was honest, he didn’t particularly like the idea of marrying girls in general. 

Red curled up in his lap and purred appreciatively as he stroked her. 

“On a scale of one to ten, how shocked do you think the kingdom would be if I said I wanted to marry a prince instead?” he mused. Red was no help, rolling onto her back to let him scratch her tummy. “I agree. Eleven seems accurate.” 

Keith sighed and looked out over the horizon. “Not that it really matters how I feel. One day it won’t be suggestions; it’ll be orders. I’ll marry the girl, the two kingdoms will align and everyone will be overjoyed because their young prince is finally happy. Besides, sparks and true love just don’t happen in real life. That ‘struck by lightning’ feeling only happens in fairy tales.”

Of course, the universe doesn’t like it when people claim to know what does and doesn’t ever happen in real life. So, just to spite him, it chose that very moment to make a storm sweep in out of nowhere and strike their ship with lightning. 

*****

The storm was brutal. Wind churned the ocean into huge waves and rain pelted down from what seemed like every direction. Lance tried desperately to hang onto his ledge, but his grip on the wood slipped almost instantly and he felt his stomach drop as he went flying into the air. His last sight before submersion was the image of Pidge, Hunk and Coran being thrown as the fire spread quickly across the fabric of the sails, to the wooden mast and downwards. 

The sheer power of the waves forced him down in a way he’d never felt before; the weather never affected the deepest parts of the ocean, but _this_. . . this was terrifying. He fought hard and was finally able to resurface, getting a feel for how to move properly against the new, powerful forces. He could barely make out the sailors grasping at ropes, trying to turn the ship or secure it somehow. It was headed straight for a huge outcropping of rocks and there was nothing they could do to deter it. 

Dread stirred nausea into Lance’s stomach as he cried out to them, but his voice was lost in the wind as the ocean pulled him down once again. Even underwater he could hear the enormous crash. He could see the trails of bubbles the crew left in the distance as they plunged into the ocean and he swam immediately towards them as fast as his tail could propel him; _someone_ must have survived, he had to help them-

His head emerged from the water once more just in time to see the attractive boy (Prince Keith?) pulling people up into a small wooden boat. _Thank god._ Keith grabbed the hand of another man; his older brother Shiro, he had learned during the speech. As he dragged him out of the water and into the life boat, he seemed to hear something from within the burning wreckage of the ship. His entire expression hardened, then he dove straight into the water. 

Lance gaped at him. _Is he a complete idiot???_ he wondered, half with disdain and half in plain awe as the human prince swam back to the craft, Shiro calling his name. It was only when he had reached the ship that Lance saw what he had gone back for: the ginger cat he had been petting. 

What neither of them knew, as Keith climbed up on deck and scooped the cat into his arms, was that a trail of fire was slowly making its way towards the crates of gunpowder stored below deck. As Keith threw the cat down to Shiro, the whole thing exploded. 

Lance launched himself forward without any hesitation. He searched around all the floating debris frantically until he noticed Keith slip off a plank of wood and into the water. He dove desperately under the waves after him, slicing through the water faster than he ever had in his life. There was no way he was letting this boy die. He grabbed him under the shoulders once he reached him, crossing his arms over the human boy’s chest, then rose steadily towards the surface above. 

*****

Keith had no idea what had happened. He could feel sand under his back and there was an annoyingly loud voice piercing through the peaceful black of unconsciousness.

“A cat? You went back into a burning ship to save a _cat_? You could have died! In fact, you might actually _be_ dead right now, because you are decidedly unresponsive. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive you for this. What kind of _idiot_ -,” Keith felt someone brush his bangs out of his face then the voice paused in its tirade, momentarily distracted by something. “Is that? Oh my god. It is. You have a mullet. I just saved some guy who has a _mullet_! I regret my entire life, I no longer care whether you’re alive or not.” 

Keith groaned and the voice seemed to calm down a little. “Okay, okay, that was a little harsh, I take it back, don’t die but like. . . a mullet? Seriously? How did I not notice that on the ship? I can’t believe I thought you were _hot._ I can’t believe I still think you’re hot even though you have a mullet.” 

Keith cracked his eyes open then and nearly choked on thin air. Staring at him intently was a boy like none he’d ever seen before. He had pointed ears that stuck out beneath pure white hair, his face angular and otherworldly. Beneath his startlingly blue eyes were strange  blue markings that Keith suspected were not tattoos. Whoever he was, he was. . . _ethereal_. The boy shot him what he must have thought was a flirtatious grin and said “He lives! Welcome back to the waking world, mullet man.”

Just then, Shiro’s voice interrupted their bonding moment. He was calling Keith’s name, which the strange boy seemed to take as his cue to get the hell out of there.

“See you around, sunshine,” he promised with a wink, then disappeared. 

Keith sat up, rubbed his eyes and looked around him in search of his rescuer, but it was in vain. There was no trace of him anywhere. He felt Shiro’s hand on his back and heard him ask if he was alright, what happened, did he try to give Shiro heart attacks on purpose? 

Keith waved away his concerns with a dismissive gesture and continued to look out at the ocean, mesmerized. 

“There was this. . . boy. . .” he muttered, voice hoarse and dry from the ocean water he had swallowed. The image of his intense stare had imprinted itself into Keith’s mind, the memory of his teasing tangent taunting him.

“He must have rescued me, he wouldn’t stop _talking_. . .” he rambled, still looking out at the water as if hoping the boy would reappear. Shiro gave him a strange look before putting a hand on each of his shoulders and guiding him back in the direction of the palace. Keith looked back out at the ocean for just a moment, still dazed from everything that had happened. His brain was already in overdrive, going through theories of how he could have disappeared so quickly.

“I’m going to find him one day, Shiro,” he said, without a hint of doubt, then let his brother pull him along. 

“Sure you will bud. Sure you will. Come on, let’s get you home.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to all the awesome people who have read, commented, bookmarked and left kudos on this fic! It means the absolute world to me :) I hope you enjoy this chapter!

_You were out of my league, at a distance that I didn't want to see. . ._

 

“I can’t believe he has a _mullet!_ I was actually attracted to this guy and I think I might still be. Do you know what the worst part is? He actually manages to pull it off. You know, I really thought the two of us were meant to be, but this puts a serious snag in our relationship.” complained Lance as he and Hunk swam back towards Altea. 

Hunk glared at him. “Really? It’s the mullet that puts a snag in your relationship? Not the fact that he’s a _human_? A human _prince_?” 

Lance looked over at his friend and raised an eyebrow. “Uh. . . yeah?” 

Hunk smacked a hand to his forehead, declaring Lance a lost cause. Pidge and Coran had gone home almost immediately after Lance had gotten Keith out of the ocean, shaking their heads at his idiocy. Pidge’s exact words were: “I’m not getting caught up in any more of _this_ bullshit.” Hunk, however, had stayed behind like the good friend he was to make sure Lance didn’t do anything stupid (although Hunk wasn’t totally sure he would be able to stop him).

Lance had watched Keith and his brother until they had disappeared down the beach. All the way back to the palace, Hunk had been lecturing him about how stupid this was. Lance was glad to be free of the nagging when they reached the window to his bedroom and he waved goodbye to his friend, who was still shaking his head.

He was going to have to be very quiet sneaking back in- Alana was a light sleeper, so if Lance wasn’t completely silent she would become Allura’s personal security alarm. He poked his head over the edge of the window to make sure that everyone was still asleep, then slowly swung it open and slipped through. Although it was already early morning, Lance figured he could still get a few hours of sleep. 

It was only once he was settled into bed that he realized just how tired he was. Needless to say, Lance was asleep almost immediately once his head hit the pillow. His last waking thought was of a pair of violet eyes staring, dazed and confused, up at him.

The next morning, Lance was in a fantastic mood. As he weaved Adella and Aquata’s hair into identical braids, he concocted a foolproof plan for meeting Keith again. Humming contentedly under his breath, he twisted a few strings of pearls into the braids. His sisters were over the moon at this addition and insisted he use the last string as a crown.

Lance passed Attina on his way out of the room and complimented her dreamily on her bun. She frowned at him suspiciously. “I wear my hair like this literally every day, Lance.” 

Lance, who had been barely paying attention to what he was saying, turned, taken aback. 

“Well, uh, it looks. . . especially good. . . today. . .” he said, dismissing her with a wave of his hand as he continued on his mission to find Hunk so he could execute his master plan. He was gliding down the hallway in some sort of stupor when he saw Allura swimming towards him. Lance turned to his right, spotted a purple flower that reminded him of Keith’s eyes, picked it up and tucked it behind Allura’s ear as she passed, saying, “Allura, dear sister, looking gorgeous as ever today.” He then continued on his way happily, still humming and oblivious to the conversation going on behind him.

“What’s the matter with Lance?” Allura asked Attina, who shot the soon-to-be-queen a smug grin. 

“Oh come on, isn’t it obvious? Lance is besotted with someone. _Again_.” The orange-tailed mermaid shook her head at her brother’s stupidity then floated lazily back to their room. 

Allura stared after Lance as he turned a corner, bemused. She made a mental note to ask Coran about this new development later (she was his older sister after all, she needed blackmail on the boy) and then followed Attina into their bedroom to get ready for the day.

Lance arrived at Hunk’s house within a few minutes. From the moment he opened the door Lance pestered him about his flawless plan, to no avail. He paused in his explanation only to wave hello to Hunk’s mother, who had never once in his life let him leave their house without a fresh batch of cookies. 

“What do you mean, no?! You’re going to get in the way of this epic love story? I can’t believe you’re not gonna take your rightful place as my wingman,” Lance whined. Hunk shook his head, seeming almost amused by Lance’s pain.

“Look man, I know this human thing is a dream of yours, but I’m not gonna back up your serenade to the prince with a clarinet. I do have _some_ dignity, you know.”

Lance groaned dramatically and threw himself onto the couch, hand over his eyes as he pouted. Hunk watched his display with only a slight twinge of sympathy before grinning and putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“I think I know something that’ll make you feel better. Hunk Guarantee.” He held one hand up and put the other over his heart in solemn oath. Lance peeked out from beneath his fingers, intrigued. 

Hunk motioned for Lance to follow him, then swam out of the room. Hunk Guarantees were not be questioned, so Lance followed without complaint. He trailed behind him curiously for awhile until they arrived. . . at the entrance of the grotto. 

Lance stared at it for a few seconds, then at Hunk, then back at the entrance. 

“Uh, Hunk. . . I don’t know how to break this to you man, but we’ve already discovered this grotto. I’m the one who put all the human stuff in there, remember?”

Hunk smacked his arm and told him not to be stupid, then moved the boulder out of the way. Lance entered the grotto sceptically, but his doubt vanished as soon as he saw what was inside. Sitting in the centre of the grotto was the statue of Prince Keith.

It took a moment for Lance to process what was happening, but once he did it he immediately doubled over laughing. He laughed so hard that his stomach began to hurt as he stared at the stupid fucking statue and knew that he should never have doubted a Hunk Guarantee. Still giggling hysterically he circled around the statue, then finally he said, between gasps, “This is- _amazing_ \- how- did you even get this- Hunk- you absolute genius- you- are the best friend- in the entire ocean-,”

Hunk chuckled and scratched the back of his head at his friend’s appreciative words while Lance leaned his elbow on Statue Keith’s shoulder and shot finger guns at him. His chuckles quickly transformed into groans of exasperation when Lance started to speak. 

“If it weren’t for the DAMNED sun, you’d be the hottest thing ever created.”

“Lance no.”

“Was that an earthquake? Or did you just rock my world?”

“You are the actual worst.”

“Was your father a thief? Cause someone stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes.” 

“I regret my entire life. Should I just leave the two of you alone?”

*****

While Lance was chatting up a literal statue, Allura was on a mission: Talk to Coran, find out who Lance was crushing on, then tease him endlessly for it. She was sitting on her throne examining the violet flower Lance had tucked behind her ear that morning when her advisor finally arrived. She sat up, placed the flower on the arm of her throne and smiled encouragingly at him.

It was possible that it was just the new crab form, but Allura couldn’t help but notice that Coran was acting a bit. . . strange. Too drawn up, too tight, too polite. As he scuttled across the floor towards her, she tried to smile as warmly and calmingly as possible. Perhaps being a crab was significantly more uncomfortable than she had previously expected?

He looked so uncomfortable, in fact, that she pointed her trident at him and promptly transformed him back into himself. Coran breathed a visible sigh of relief as he flicked his tail and smoothed his hand over his hair and moustache. Hoping that this would suffice to put him back to normal, Allura leaned down towards him with an expression of mock-disappointment.

“You know Coran, I thought I could trust you. But I get the feeling there’s something you haven’t told me.” He gulped, his shoulders tensing. “Something about Lance. . . crushing on someone?”

Coran broke. He draped himself across the arm of her throne dramatically, wailing and wiping his eyes with the sleeve of her silk top.

“I knew you’d find out, I did tell the boy that keeping secrets from you was futile, but no, why listen to Coran, he’s only known you since the moment you were born! First that whole collection, then it was the ship, then he went and rescued the cute one, leave it to Lance to crush on a human-,”

Allura assumed it must have been the look on her face that made him stop in his tracks. Her stomach had dropped at the mention of a ship, her blood running cold. It was a struggle to keep her voice steady, to not scream at the injustice of the situation.

“A collection. Probably of human objects?” Coran nodded ever so slightly, eyes wide. “You’re to show me where it is this very instant, Coran. That’s an order.”

It didn’t take long to get to the grotto, but her vision was going more and more red around the edges with each passing second. Allura had known Lance didn’t agree with the surface laws, but she had thought that for once he might actually listen to her. It was clear that he not only didn’t obey her rules, but had no concept of the consequences of his actions. He didn’t trust her in the slightest.

She didn’t bother trying to move the boulder blocking the entrance, instead blasting it to pieces. She swam through the cloud of dust left behind, attempting to brace herself for what she might find, but her heart still sank when the water cleared. Before her was a grotto, its every nook and cranny filled with the belongings of those who had murdered her people. The centre piece, however, was the final straw: a life size statue of a young human boy, which her brother had been leaning on just a moment ago.

Lance jumped away from the statue, shamefaced and shocked, while his friend Hunk turned towards her, horrified. Lance was rapidly going pale and backed away ever so slightly, running a hand through his hair, which made it float strangely in the water. 

“Allura, I can explain, I-,” started Lance, hands now up again in that placating gesture, this time significantly less arrogant. 

“I have warned you countless times about the dangers of the human race. I see my time has been wasted. I cannot believe you would insult Altea and our family in this manner! How could you betray my trust so thoroughly?” Lance didn’t answer. Her lips pressed together in a hard line. “If this is the only way to make you understand, then I will do what I must!”

Allura’s voice echoed around them as she pointed her trident at the top-most corner of Lance’s collection. With great sweeping blasts, she reduced all of Lance’s most precious treasures to ashes. The merprince shouted at her to stop, but she ignored him- she would not leave a trace of this filth anywhere in the ocean. Not while she ruled.

Without hesitation, she pointed her trident with finality at the statue. In a single moment, what was once carefully shaped stone became rubble strewn across the ocean floor. Allura left the grotto without another word or even a glance in Lance’s direction.

*****

Insides made of lead, Lance sank to the ocean floor and leaned his head against the base of where the statue had once been. He stared numbly at nothing for a few seconds, ignoring Hunk, who Lance knew was looking at him as though he would shatter. He glanced over to his right and spotted a bent piece of shining silver. His discovery. Lance picked it up gingerly in one hand, felt the beginnings of pathetic tears burn in the back of his eyes. He refused to let any of them well over as he held the beautiful object, broken beyond repair, to his chest.

Hunk swam forward to comfort him, hesitantly placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“Lance, I’m so sorry. . .” 

Lance pushed his hand away. “Can you-,” he swallowed down the lump in his throat- “can you just. . . give me a second?”

With a nod, Hunk swam reluctantly up to the entrance of the grotto, hands near his face as though he was unsure what to do with them. After one last sympathetic look in Lance’s direction, he was gone. 

The rules about the surface had always been a sore spot with Allura, Lance had known that, and yet. . . this grotto was everything to him. He had spent years filling it with amazing things, all destroyed in an instant with a wave of her trident. 

Suddenly, before he could think any more about what Allura had done, the grotto was thrown briefly into darkness. Lance looked up instinctively to see two black eels slithering their way in through the hole at the top of the grotto and down towards him. They bared their teeth in terrifying twin grins, bright yellow eyes gleaming menacingly. As they came to float in front of his face, one of them began to speak.

“The poor merprince, heartbroken and betrayed by his own sister. I suppose he’ll never have a chance with his precious human when he has to follow his sister’s every command, don’t you think Sendak?” it sneered in a raspy, distinctly female voice.

The other responded with a similar rasp, this time male. “Precisely, Haggar. If only there was someone who could help him. . . but the prince of Altea would never accept aid from Zarkon. Such a pity.” 

“Zarkon? You mean the cecaelia Zarkon? The one who was banished?” he asked, frowning sceptically. There were always stories, but. . . there was no way these two were the _real_ Haggar and Sendak, right?

“Why yes, but- you’re not seriously considering it, are you?” said the first.

“Your sister would never allow it!” insisted the second.

At this, Lance baulked indignantly. “My sister doesn’t _allow_ me to do anything. I can think for myself, thank you very much.”

The eels swam closer. “In that case, perhaps your highness would like us to escort you to him?”

Lance steeled himself, then nodded and followed Haggar and Sendak- really the ones from the stories, apparently- out of the grotto. 

*****

_Of course the evil sea octopus guy lives in a giant freaking skeleton. Of course._

Lance followed Haggar and Sendak hesitantly, not even trying to pretend that the bones of the Leviathan weren’t frightening. Still, he continued to make his way forward behind them, mainly because Allura would be _so pissed_ and what else could she do to him now?

Unbeknownst to the merprince, Hunk had returned to the grotto to check up on him and, discovering it empty, had rushed straight to Pidge to help find him. Pidge, having many connections with basically all the sea creatures in the area (no one knew why or how, they figured it was best not to ask), was able to figure out which direction he had gone. The two merpeople were now trailing Lance and the eels a few feet back, Pidge ranting about what an idiot he was the whole way and Hunk shushing them frantically. 

Just Lance’s luck, the way to get into Zarkon’s home was through the skeleton’s mouth, so he dodged a couple of rotting teeth and held his breath, determined not to back out. As they travelled down the throat he felt something wrap around his wrist and squealed in fear, looking down to see a garden of. . . well, he wasn’t sure _what_ they were. They mostly looked like seaweed, but they had eyes and gaping mouths that wailed at him as he passed. Actually, he had seen these before: in Pidge’s lab the other day. Suddenly, he connected their horrifying image with the stories he had heard about Zarkon when he was young: these were polyps, the result of failing to uphold your end of a deal.

The Galra made deals with desperate people, using Haggar’s magic to help them, but if they didn’t fulfil their part, he took their souls and transformed them into. . . this. Zarkon’s contracts were unbreakable; even if you were to use Allura’s trident they would remain intact. Lance gulped and swam as quickly as he could out of that area, almost bumping into Haggar. The two eels had stopped and they motioned at him to go ahead. 

When he paused for a moment, looking unsure, Sendak pushed him straight into the section of the leviathan that had probably been its stomach. There, sitting upon a throne made of a deep purple shell, was Zarkon. Haggar and Sendak slithered in behind him, the former uttering a spell under her breath that transformed the two eels back into their original cecaelia form. While the two settled into their respective places at Zarkon’s side, Lance took a good look at the banished merman. 

Cecaelia were every bit as creepy as the stories had made them out to be. Zarkon’s eight tentacles were black and menacing, curling into the space around him. Black scales covered most of his torso, stretching just to his collarbone and his wrists. His eyes were covered by a dark hood and what could be seen of his face was royal purple and angular.

“So, you uh. . . have a thing for black then, don’t you?”

Zarkon ignored that.

“Prince Lance of Altea. I’ve heard you’re having a bit of an. . . issue. It must be difficult, being in love with a human under the rule of your sister.” said Zarkon in a low, rumbling voice.

Lance laughed nervously. “I mean, I wouldn’t say in _love,_ I barely even know the guy!” Zarkon looked unimpressed. “But, uh, that’s beside the point! These two said you could help me?”

Zarkon rose out of his seat and drifted over to Lance leisurely. “Of course. That’s what I do, highness. I won’t bore you with tales of those poor unfortunate souls who have sought my aid in the past. You’ve also seen my garden- you understand the consequences of not upholding your end of the deal?”

Lance gulped, but nodded.

“Then I’ll get right to it,” he drawled. “My offer to you is this: Haggar will use her magic to transform you into a human. You will have three days on land to get the prince to kiss you. That’s on the lips, no cheating. If you succeed, you will remain human forever. If for some reason, however, you are unable to do so by sunset on the third day, you will join my collection.”

“Wait, so that’s it?” asked Lance. Zarkon’s lips curled into a horrible imitation of a smile as he put a hand on his shoulder condescendingly. 

“Well, I will be requiring a means of payment. Your voice will do. If you succeed it will be returned to you.”

Lance frowned. His voice? He didn’t see why that would be valuable to Zarkon, but he was sure he’d be able to charm the prince even without it. Besides, he wasn’t in much of a position to negotiate. It didn’t seem like _that_ big of a demand; the guy hadn’t asked for his teeth or his tail or anything creepy like in the old stories.

Haggar swam forward, bright golden contract held in one hand and a feather quill in the other. She offered him the quill and Lance took it, staring apprehensively at the scroll. 

“Do we have a deal?” asked Zarkon.

Unable to hear Hunk’s muffled protests in the back (Pidge had their hand over his mouth), Lance schooled his features, took a deep breath and signed on the dotted line. Hunk broke free of Pidge’s grasp, yelling out for him to stop, but it was too late. 

Haggar rushed forward and grabbed Lance’s throat- she squeezed, his eyes widened desperately, shocked, until- it began to glow an eerie blue. Slowly, a wispy substance floated out of his mouth and into a yellow shell brooch held by Zarkon: his voice. The Galra king allowed himself a small smile as he attached it to his cloak and patted it once.

Lance coughed and hacked violently while Haggar chanted incomprehensible words; Hunk had ranted about incantations enough for Lance to recognize that they were magic. When she finished, he was suddenly surrounded by a bright green light. A strange, uncomfortable tingling ran through his whole body, then- his tail separated into _legs_. Haggar cackled loudly throughout his transformation while Zarkon looked on with a smile of self-satisfaction, settling back down onto his throne.

The light faded and Lance’s new form was revealed to a watching Hunk and Pidge, white hair turned brown, pointed ears rounded and markings under his eyes gone. Most notable, of course, was the fact that his blue tail had been replaced by a pair of long legs and, evidently, he couldn't _breathe_. Hunk and Pidge rushed forward immediately, grabbed him under each arm and started pulling him to the surface while Lance kicked his new legs in an effort to help. Haggar’s laughter followed them all the way up.

When Lance’s head burst out of the water he gasped and coughed loudly while his friends supported him. He gulped down oxygen as fast as he possibly could, barely registering Hunk and Pidge’s loud rants about how much of an idiot he was and how he was absolutely doomed. When his breathing returned to normal he started to tell them to calm down but- he _couldn’t._ The words just stuck in his throat. Instead of speaking he started coughing again. 

Hunk noticed his strange behaviour and shook his head at him. “Hey, don’t look so surprised, you consented to be mute for the next few days.” 

Unable to respond, Lance simply sent an array of choice words at Hunk’s head telepathically via glare. He couldn’t even tell his friends to shut up as they continued to rant at him about his stupidity all the way to shore.

*****

Lance splashed the water frantically to get Hunk’s attention. They were sitting just a little ways off shore, hidden behind some large grey rocks. Pidge had gone home earlier to distract Coran and Allura for as long as possible. 

He needed Hunk’s attention because he had just spotted Keith walking down the beach, which was what they had been waiting for. After all, Lance had no idea where his palace was and wouldn’t know how to get there even if he did. 

“I still can’t believe you did this. The most evil type of magic, Haggar’s magic, and you used it to get with some prince you don’t even know! This was idiotic, even by your standards.”

Lance glared at him, unable to defend himself from Hunk’s endless lecturing. His friend sighed and leaned back against one of the rocks in defeat. 

“Just. . . try to get a room by the ocean, okay? Pidge and I will probably come visit on the last day. And please try to take this seriously, I’d prefer it if my best friend _didn’t_ get turned into a freaky polyp thing,” he said, worry evident in his voice. Lance rolled his eyes but nodded reassuringly, then Hunk dove back into the waves. 

Hunk really didn’t have to worry: Lance had a plan, he had everything under control. The prince would see him, recognize him as his heroic rescuer, and give him a thank-you kiss for his valiant deeds. Simple. Zarkon clearly hadn’t known who he was dealing with.

As soon as Hunk’s tail disappeared beneath the water, Lance stood up and took a couple shaky steps onto the beach. Luckily, Zarkon hadn’t left him completely naked when he transformed: he was wearing a beige pair of what Pidge said were “shorts”. 

Walking, Lance discovered, was much harder than it looked. Gravity was much more vicious on land, and he felt like he was teetering on a long pair of stilts. He attempted to make it all the way to a large boulder on the shore, but apparently was not even close to being coordinated enough for that. Which meant he face-planted directly into the sand about halfway there.

He groaned, rolling over onto his back. He didn’t even have to look to know that Keith had definitely heard him fall, if he hadn’t seen the whole thing. Lance wished fleetingly that he could sink down into the sand and just disappear forever when he heard a pair of footfalls and. . . was that snarling?

Finally looking over at Keith, Lance noticed that he wasn’t alone: that stupid cat was with him and was apparently _not so fond of merpeople._ Great. So much for first impressions. 

Lance scrabbled on hands and knees towards the boulder; he had already lost his dignity, he couldn’t afford to get attacked by that cat as well. The cat bared its teeth at him and he stuck his tongue out at it from the safety of the top of the boulder. His attention snapped back to Keith as soon as he jogged over to catch up with his demon cat.

“Hey, what’s going on? Who the hell are you?” he asked, frowning as he looked Lance up and down. 

Uh oh. This was going to be a lot more difficult than he had planned. The dumb prince didn’t even remember him? Lance thought they had _bonded_ there on the beach!

He was brought out of his momentary state of shock by another snarl from the cat that Lance had now deemed to be the spawn of Satan. He glared pointedly at it and Keith seemed to get the message. 

“Oh, Red? Don’t worry, she’s just. . . a little apprehensive around new people. She won’t bite,” he said. Lance raised an eyebrow at him. “. . . probably.”

Lance continued to stare at Red, unconvinced. When he finally looked up, he realized that the prince was now staring at _him_. Keith took a step forward, his eyes squinted as they examined his face.

“Actually, do I. . . do I know you? You seem kinda familiar,” he said. Lance nodded so enthusiastically that he nearly fell off the boulder. Keith caught him instinctively by the arms, so they were now inches apart.

“Ha, I knew it! You must be the one who saved me! What’s your name?” he asked, suddenly enthusiastic, eyes wide and scrunched at the corners by his grin.

Lance opened his mouth- _The name’s Lance_ -but felt the unpleasant sensation of words sticking in his throat, never to make it out. He closed his mouth again with a pained expression, then touched his throat with his hand. 

Keith’s face fell, excitement gone. He let go of Lance’s arms, leaving him to sway on his own.

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight, of course you’re not him. I mean, that guy never _stopped_ talking.”

_He’s an idiot,_ thought Lance, dismayed. _An actual moron._ He huffed in annoyance, then acted out quite clearly that he was a merman who had given his voice to a banished cecaelia in exchange for legs. All in charades. Unfortunately, Keith didn’t seem to get the message, as when Lance finished his elaborate story, Keith was still staring at him blankly. He groaned loudly and dragged a hand down his face. This boy was a lost cause.

“I guess you’ve, uh, been through a lot? Maybe some kind of. . . shipwreck?” _Nope._ “Come on, I’ll just. . . take you to the palace, Shiro’ll probably be fine with it, you can get cleaned up and stuff there.”

Keith helped him down from the rock and supported him all the way to the huge stone building standing on the opposite side of the beach. Walking, Lance discovered, was significantly less awful when someone else was doing half the work for you.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are all so sweet, thank you so much for all your support! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter :)
> 
> Once again, the title and beginning lyric are from the song True Affection by The Blow, which I love endlessly and which you should definitely go listen to!

_Wanted you nearer. . ._

 

Human palaces were very different from underwater palaces. While the palace Lance had grown up in was colourful, made of naturally spiralling coral and sea plants, Keith’s palace was all stone bricks and beige tones. It was, admittedly, a bit intimidating, but Keith didn’t seem to notice his wariness of the huge building. 

On the way there, Lance had pretty much gotten the hang of walking. Once you got used to the movement there really wasn’t much to it- not that he was going to let Keith know that. He was perfectly happy leaning on him the whole time.

They soon arrived at the tall wooden gates, which opened for them without hesitation once the guards saw Keith. Passing through a large courtyard, Lance watched maids rush past with arms full of laundry, saw gardeners bend over colourful flowerbeds, gawked at the sheer teeming life of the palace. His own home hadn’t been this lively in a long time. Everything here was so organic, vibrant, _new._

The entrance hall was much the same, full of more primly dressed nobles and hurrying servants, most of whom acknowledged Keith’s passing with a nod. He called four maids over and asked them to draw Lance a bath (whatever that meant) and get him a room until they could figure out where he came from. 

_You’d know where I came from if you weren’t so bad at charades,_ thought Lance. The maids seemed a bit confused as to why they were now responsible for some random guy the prince had found on the beach, but they didn’t argue. Lance smiled winningly at the four of them- if he was going to woo Keith, he would need allies on the inside- and bowed dramatically to each of them in turn. Two of them looked severely unimpressed, one giggled and the other tried unsuccessfully to roll her eyes, her smile giving her away. 

Keith, too, was unimpressed with his antics, so he winked at him flirtatiously as the maids began to lead him away. The prince only frowned in response, crossing his arms over his chest and turning away. Lance would have felt discouraged had he not noticed the faintest bit of pink across the bridge of his nose.

Even walking down hallways was a new experience for Lance: he admired the elegant paintings of previous royalty lit by the mellow sunbeams from the windows. He allowed himself to be ushered into a tiled room with what he figured must be a bath in the centre. The maids gathered around it and began filling it with warm water, then poured in something that made it lather up into bubbles. Eventually they must have decided it was satisfactory, as they walked a couple feet away and turned their backs on Lance.

_Uh,_ thought Lance, confused, _what the hell am I supposed to do with bubbly water?_ He approached one of the maids, tapped her on the shoulder and made his best ‘I don’t understand, what do you want from me??’ face. She was the one who had giggled earlier, but now she began to blush and stammer incoherently. 

Had he done something wrong? One of the two maids who weren’t as impressed with him turned around as well to see what was happening. She stared at Lance and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re supposed to take a bath, moron. In the water? With soap? To become clean?” She made a large, sarcastic gesture towards the bath.

While he wasn’t particularly flattered by her tone of voice, at least he had a good idea of what he needed to do now. Lance nodded and stared pointedly at Rude One until she turned her back again. He shed his shorts, stepped gingerly into the bath and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually really relaxing. 

So relaxing, in fact, that he simply slid down until his face and body were completely underwater. Now, Lance was used to being able to see underwater, not to mention being able to _breathe_ underwater. He regretted opening his eyes and mouth immediately, as he discovered the burning sensation of soap where it’s not supposed to be the hard way. He resurfaced, spluttering, to see the maids crowding around him, shaking their heads. 

Clearly, they had deemed him incapable of washing himself, so they were going to do it themselves. One maid, the other who hadn’t liked his bow and had silvery grey hair pulled up so tightly in a bun that it seemed to hold up the skin of her face, rubbed soap and water onto his arms with such mechanic precision that she became Robot One. Shy One was in charge of his legs, not daring to go up any further than his knees. The maid who had rolled her eyes was in charge of his hair, and he named her Violent One, as he became increasingly afraid with every moment that he wouldn’t have any hair left when she was finished. Rude One was no where to be found.

As they worked, Lance busied himself blowing bubbles into the air, until he realized that it was possible to make a beard out of them. He got loud laughs from Shy One and Violent One and even managed to get a small smile from Robot One. He counted it as a solid step towards making them his maid squad. After awhile they seemed to be satisfied and they stepped away, turning their backs again. 

Lance stepped out and was about to pull his shorts back on when a voice interrupted from behind him. He turned to see Rude One covering her eyes and holding a stack of clothing.

“You’re supposed to dry off first you know. Besides, you won’t be wearing those old things anymore. Prince Keith gave me authority to dress you and I picked this out. Change fast,” she commanded. Lance wasn’t comfortable enough with his ability to defend himself on land to protest. 

After a few failed attempts at putting on clothes that were much more complicated than his shorts had been, he managed to get everything on properly, then the maids guided him in front of a mirror. Lance was dressed almost entirely in a light blue that complimented his eyes nicely, but he was distracted: busy running his hands through his new brown hair, over his strange rounded ears, under his eyes where small triangle markings once were.

Rude One noticed how uncomfortable he was, and must have thought he was being self-conscious, as she stepped forward and laid a hand hesitantly on his arm.

“It suits you,” she said, a bit awkwardly, but with a significantly softer look than what she’d been sporting earlier.

From that moment on, Lance changed her name from Rude One to Seems Rude But Is Really Just Sassy With A Sweet Side One; Sassy One for short. He smiled back at her, then allowed Shy One to lead him by the arm to his room. It was on the top floor (which meant _way too many stairs_ ) but inside was inviting, decorated in soft aqua tones. Before he could go check out the balcony he felt a tug on his arm- Shy One. He raised an eyebrow at her. _What is it?_

She spoke for the first time since Lance had arrived in a small voice, saying “Prince Shiro has invited you to join him and Prince Keith for supper, sir. And, um, I’m Rachel, by the way, if you, you know, need anything.”

All of a sudden, it wasn’t Rachel standing there anymore, but Arista, uncomfortable in her own skin. At balls, banquets or any kind of grand event she tended to shrink under all the attention. Even after all her years experiencing them, she never quite got used to them, and would become silent very quickly if something wasn’t done about it. Luckily, Lance always knew how to make Arista feel better.

Lance shot her an over-the-tip wink and kissed her hand with another extravagant bow. _Pleasure to meet you, m’lady._ Rachel giggled and curtsied back, nervousness dissipating. She offered him her arm and he took it, letting her escort him down to the dining hall. He liked to think that his plan to make allies in the human world had been a success.

*****

Shiro was insufferable. Ever since Keith had told him about the boy he hadn’t stopped _grinning_. For a future king he could be pretty immature, especially now that Keith had brought a strange boy to the palace. Unable to help himself from the teasing opportunities it would provide him, Shiro had invited Beach Boy to have dinner with them. 

It wasn’t even embarrassing, it was just weird. Keith didn’t know if he had a type, but if he did, this guy was _not_ his. Flirtatious, smug and overly confident, Keith counted it a blessing that he couldn’t speak. He didn’t dare imagine what he would say if he _could_ speak.

In any case, Beach Boy was late. Extremely late. Keith and Shiro were sitting in the dining hall alone, evening sunlight streaming in through the windows. Of course, just as he thought that maybe they should start without him, he decided to show up. In true Beach Boy fashion he made quite the entrance, opening the doors dramatically with a red-haired maid following close behind. Clad in a blue suit and cape, Keith reluctantly admitted to himself that he actually looked pretty good. Shiro seemed to notice him staring and coughed to cover a laugh. 

“Welcome to the palace. I’m Prince Shiro, and I believe you’ve already met my younger brother Keith?” said Shiro as he strode forward to shake his hand. “What’s your name?” 

Beach Boy’s mouth opened and his lips started to form words, but no sound came out. He strained for a moment, seeming to forget himself, before snapping his mouth shut. He tapped his throat with a chagrined look on his face. It was like déjà vu; he had made the exact same gesture when Keith had asked him that question. 

Shiro turned to Keith, surprised. “You didn’t tell me he couldn’t talk.”

Keith shrugged. “I guess I forgot about it.” 

The two of them came back to the table and Keith watched Beach Boy as he sat down in the chair opposite him. He couldn’t help but notice the strange way he walked; carefully, as if placing one foot in front of the other required a lot of thought.

Three maids came forward then, carrying silver platters in their hands. Once they had set them down they retreated to the back wall of the room, always at the ready to take the food away whenever they finished. 

Beach Boy lifted the top off his platter and his entire face suddenly lit up. Entranced, he lifted a silver fork off the tray and started to run it through his hair. Keith stared at this strange display open mouthed and it took the boy way too long to notice. When he saw that he and Shiro were looking at him, wide-eyed, he slammed the fork back down on the table, looking embarrassed. 

“I can’t get over not knowing your name. Maybe we could. . . guess?” suggested Shiro, to which Beach Boy nodded enthusiastically. 

(In the background, though Keith did not notice, the three maids were passing money to each other. “I bet Shiro gets it before the end of dinner.” “I bet it takes Keith a week before he figures it out.” “Ha! Knowing him it’ll take him over a month!”).

At first Beach Boy tried mouthing it to them. Keith leaned forward and squinted as hard as he could as the boy made exaggerated shapes with his mouth, to no avail. All of his _very valid guesses_ (Lars, Leo, Lamar, Bryan) were dismissed by Beach Boy. The method was proved unsuccessful fairly quickly, so Beach Boy decided charades would probably work instead.

He mimed what seemed to be a long object, then pretended to. . . stab someone?

“Javelin!” shouted Shiro.

“Sword!” countered Keith.

“Spear! Wait, no, pole!”

“Fuck it, stick?”

Stick, as Keith would soon change his name to, face palmed and collapsed back into his chair.

Dinner went by filled with shouts from the royal siblings trying (and failing) to guess the boy’s name. Time flew by and soon the sun was setting and Keith was extremely frustrated. A little while ago Shiro had suddenly gasped and grinned smugly, then had leaned over to whisper something in Stick’s ear. Stick had nodded happily.

Keith had leaned forward, excited. “So what’s his name??”

Then, Shiro had looked him directly in the eye as he betrayed him. “Figure it out for yourself.”

So now he was the only one who didn’t know Stick’s name. Therefore, Stick didn’t deserve _any_ name that was better than Stick. He was pushing the remainder of his dinner around his plate with his fork moodily, still trying to figure it out, when he heard Shiro say his name. 

He looked up blankly. “. . .what?” 

Shiro rolled his eyes. “I was just suggesting that you take our new friend here on a tour of the kingdom tomorrow. Judging from the yes or no conversation we have been limited to I learned that he has not, in fact, been around here before. What do you think?” 

Keith looked over at Stick, who was still slouched leisurely back in his chair. As he smirked at him he looked over at Shiro pleadingly, but he knew that expression from a mile away. _I may have asked you what you think but really you have no choice._

Screaming internally, Keith agreed as nonchalantly as possible. Shiro instructed him to show Stick back to his room, so the two of them left together. Just as the door closed behind them Keith looked back at Shiro, who had the nerve to _wink_ at him. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day. 

*****

Keith wasn’t at all what Lance had been expecting. 

To be fair, the prince swooning dramatically into his arms the moment their eyes met _had_ been a little far-fetched, he could admit that, but something similar would have been nice. In fact, Keith caring about his existence at all would have been nice. But no. He had gotten rid of Lance as fast as possible with those maids, acted awkward and moody throughout dinner and now was barely speaking as he walked Lance back to his room. 

Just perfect. How was he supposed to woo this guy when he seemed to be against all social interaction, let alone flirting? It was going to be much harder than he had predicted. Their walk through the palace was practically silent; Keith obviously wasn’t very talkative and Lance literally lacked the ability to speak. 

Lance, however, wasn’t going to give up so easily. As they arrived at his door, Keith turned to him and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“I’ll, uh, I’ll be at the front gates tomorrow. At dawn. Okay?” he said, holding a hand out hesitantly for a handshake. He looked almost. . . unsure of himself. 

Maybe it was because of the shyer look in his eyes, or maybe it was an act of sheer desperation after this not-so-romantic beginning, but Lance found himself taking that hand and bringing it up to his lips softly; similar to what he had done with Rachel, but with much less. . . exaggeration. He watched Keith the whole time, watched a look of confusion, then of blushing understanding cross over his face. 

Lance smirked, and Keith snatched his hand back, embarrassed.

“Don’t be late,” he fumed, then he stalked away down the hall and around a corner. Lance took a moment to smirk at his back before closing the door to his room behind him.

A wave of tiredness washed over him. So much had changed in only a day- it seemed like forever ago that Allura had destroyed the grotto. Ignoring most of the room, though he would investigate it properly later, he went straight to the balcony and looked out over the sea. 

It had been a long time since Lance had seen the ocean from the outside, especially not at night, had forgotten the way the moon looked as it shone brightly on dark waves. The stars were a rare sight when you spent your life underwater- he had underestimated just how small and distant they could make you feel. 

Fleetingly, he wondered what Allura and the others were doing right now. Were they looking for him? Were they worried, or did they just think he was off doing something stupid again? They wouldn’t be totally wrong in making that assumption if Lance was being honest with himself. He hoped Attina had taken his place giving Alana a face mask (she would often refuse to go to bed without having done one, she loved them). He hoped that she had remembered to put Adella and Aquata back in their own beds when they accidentally fell asleep in the same one, that she would leave the door open just a crack so Allura could come in later without waking anyone.

It was, of course, impossible to know whether or not Attina had done any of that, but Lance found himself thinking about it for a long time as he looked out at the sea and the stars. Preoccupied with his thoughts of home, Lance didn’t notice that a passing Keith was watching from the shore below, was unaware that the prince’s heart sped up just a little. 

Eventually, Lance reentered his room, turned out the light and collapsed into bed, still in his dinner clothes.

*****

Lance, of course, was late. Rachel’s incessant banging on the door barely managed to wake him at all. Everything seemed muted and hazy as he rolled out of bed and opened the door groggily. She and Sassy One burst in hurriedly, rushing him into fresh clothes. These were softer, a muted green colour and without a cape. They ran something that definitely wasn’t a dinglehopper through his hair and and shoved him out the door, down several corridors and hallways until he was standing sheepishly in front of Keith.

Said prince had been waiting by the castle gates, a horse and carriage already prepared. Keith glared at him, raising an eyebrow. 

“There were literally two instructions for you to follow. Dawn. Don’t be late. How did you manage to screw both of them up?” asked Keith. _Not a morning person then. Good to know._

Lance responded by sticking his tongue out at him, then climbed into the carriage. He may or may not have struggled pathetically with the door for a few seconds before managing to open it. Keith rolled his eyes and sat down in the drivers seat. He grabbed the reins as the gates opened, then they were on their way. 

It was terrifying. Not that Keith was a bad driver- actually, he was a frustratingly awesome driver; that is, if you ignore the fact that he had no regard for safety at all. He waited until the last second to perform every sharp turn, going much faster than was strictly necessary but always pulling it off flawlessly in the end. Lance tried in vain to comfort himself with the fact that he had learned something about Keith: this guy was not afraid to take risks (in this case at the horrified expense of others).

Lance released his iron grip on the side of the carriage with a huge sigh of relief as they drove onto a straight, wide stretch of road. No turns in sight. _Thank quiznak._ He looked over at Keith, who was sporting a self-satisfied grin at his reaction. Stupid prince with his stupid driving and stupid smile.

Keith redirected his attention back to the road ahead, silence stretching out between them once again. The small moment in which his smile existed had passed, leaving them suspended in the same awkward uncertainty that had followed them around last night. Normally Lance would say something, crack a dumb joke to ease the strange tension, but obviously his circumstances weren’t normal.

If this was how the next two days were going to be, he may as well accept his failure now. Maybe Allura could find some fault in the contract? Or Hunk could reverse the magic? Or maybe-

“LANCE! YOUR NAME IS LANCE, ISN’T IT?” shouted Keith suddenly, ripping Lance from his moping session. His eyes were bright, looking at Lance excitedly with enthusiasm that reminded him of the moment on the beach where he guessed that Lance had rescued him.

It was so ridiculously endearing that Lance couldn’t help laughing. The silence was broken, the awkwardness appeased, and he was too busy nodding through his hysterics to wonder what a silent laugh must look like. 

At the signal that yes, his name was in fact Lance, Keith let out a triumphant “YES!” 

The air around them seemed to clear and Keith, though still not the most talkative person alive, made the occasional comment about what they would be doing, asked some yes or no questions about Lance’s life. 

“Okay, uh. . .any siblings?”

He nodded. _Yep._

“How many?”

Lance held up six fingers. 

“Oh god, that is way too many. I can barely handle having Shiro around all the time.” 

Lance laughed at that. He hardly noticed that they were close to the town until he was being bumped up and down by the cobblestone street below. Lance sat forward in his seat eagerly, ecstatic about what awesome things could be waiting there and newly hopeful about his odds. _Maybe I have a chance after all._

*****

Lance. His name was Lance. 

Keith had no idea why he was so fixated on that fact- maybe because it had taken him so long to figure it out? In any case, the mystery was over, and he could quit calling him Beach Boy and Stick. It was almost like now that Lance was Lance, he was more. . . human. Part of the real world. Lance.

Lance’s name wasn’t the only thing Keith’s mind was fixated on however: he also couldn’t get his mystery rescuer out of his head. He was still determined to find him; he hadn’t been kidding when he had told Shiro that. 

His brother had been pretty exasperated with him when he had found him in the library the night before. Keith had been poring over every book he could find about merpeople, trying to figure out if there was some way to contact them, when Shiro had walked in. He had sighed long-sufferingly when he had seen what he was reading.

“Keith, I know this is important to you, and I’ve been letting your constant walks down the beach slide, but don’t you think this is getting a little out of hand?” he had asked. Keith had bristled defiantly.

“I know he’s out there Shiro, I just have to find him. And him being a merman isn’t crazy, it’s the only thing that makes sense! How else could he have disappeared so quickly?” Hehad pointed at a diagram showing a mermaid tail and how quickly it could make them move in the water.

Shiro had stared at him for a couple seconds, lips pressed together in a thin line, before sitting down in a chair next to him and opening up a book. 

Back in the present, Keith and Lance had just handed the horse and carriage off to a stable boy in town and were heading down to the market place. Even though he technically didn’t know where that was, Lance pulled Keith along excitedly. He only had to redirect him a few times when he made a couple wrong turns.

Lance only got worse when they arrived- dashing from booth to booth, picking one thing up only to ditch it for the something that shined across the street. Keith wouldn’t have been able to keep up if Lance didn’t have a firm grip on his wrist the whole time. As they got closer to the town square, Keith began to admit to himself that his first impression of Lance may have been _slightly_ off. He was definitely still arrogant and flirtatious to a fault, but he was also curious and funny- he didn’t even speak, how was he able to make Keith laugh so easily?

A boy was playing violin in the square, an upbeat tune that Keith recognized immediately- a totally overplayed melody that he hated with a burning passion. He swore it had been performed at every ball he had gone to in his entire lifetime. People had already started to dance, couples twirling together, women being lifted into the air in sync. 

Keith looked over to see Lance pointing to the dancers, stars in his eyes. _Oh, hell no._

“No. No way, not in a million years,” said Keith, taking a step back. Lance stuck out his lower lip in a pout and pressed his hands together: _C’mon, please???_

Keith was going to regret this. He sighed.

“Alright, _fine,_ but only one dance!”

And then Lance was leading him into the circle of dancers, huge grin stretched across his face. 

It took Keith a total of five seconds to figure out that Lance had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He floundered uncertainly when Keith took his hand and kept bumping into people- he was sure his toes would never recover from the amount of times they were stepped on. Lance had clearly never danced before; Keith, however, had danced to this song about a million times. 

Keith stopped them in their tracks, then pushed Lance’s shoulders back into the right frame and pulled one of his hands forward and onto his waist. He took him through the steps slowly, and Lance caught on fairly quickly, but they still bumped into each other a lot, movements clashing uncomfortably. 

“Would it kill you to follow my lead?” asked Keith, frustrated. Lance huffed at him and glared, but relaxed a little more and complied. 

As soon as Lance relinquished a bit of control, the dance clicked. The two of them were suddenly twirling with ease across the square. Keith had never cared about dancing- it had always seemed meaningless, the music had always droned on, a different princess in his arms at every ball. But dancing with Lance. . . was different.

He didn’t move through the steps with robotic precision, hadn’t done this a thousand times over. Lance was having _fun._ If he was being honest, so was Keith. It was like the dance had created a new little world, a moment for just the two of them to be a part of. 

He heard the cue in the music that meant a lift was coming and hoisted an unsuspecting Lance into the air. If he could squeal, Keith was sure that would be what Lance would do at that moment, but instead only a look of sheer terror passed over his face. When Keith set him down again he noticed his cheeks were flushed- he supposed they _had_ been dancing a long time, especially for someone who had never done it before. The song was obnoxiously long, after all.

They twirled to a stop as the song came to a close, staring at each other. Lance started laughing that strange silent laugh of his, then Keith was laughing too, and they were just laughing together in the middle of the town square. He was still holding Lance’s hand. He wasn’t totally sure why they were both laughing, just that it felt right, so he kept laughing- right up until he overheard a whispered conversation behind them.

“Yes, that’s definitely the prince. . . wonder what he’s doing here, dancing with that strange boy. . . disgraceful, that’s what it is. . .”

He froze, laughter gone. The little world shattered around him. Suddenly, it seemed like everyone’s eyes were burning holes into him, stares suffocating him. He dropped Lance’s hand. The boy shot him a questioning look but Keith just shook his head and led him away as the next song began to play. Away from the music, away from the dancers, away from the woman who had whispered those words to her husband, away from that wonderful moment when he had felt something spark in his chest. 

_I should have known better,_ he thought as they stepped onto a bridge crossing over the river leading to the sea. Rumours might start up now, about how the prince had been dancing in public with a boy and laughing with him and maybe even flirting with him and-

Lance grabbed him by the shoulders, spinning him around to face him. He found himself pinned by the intensity in those blue eyes, unable to look away. Lance gave him a look that spoke for itself: _What’s wrong?_

Keith sighed, tore his gaze away to stare instead at the pavement and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“It’s nothing. Come on, there’s. . . still a lot of kingdom left to show you.” Keith was grateful when Lance seemed to drop it, sighing and letting go of his shoulders. 

Keith kept his arms at his sides as they continued the tour, but Lance didn’t make any attempts to grab his wrist again. 


	5. Chapter 5

_I still believe in the phrases that we breathed, but I know the distance isn't fair to cross._

_I love the place where we shared our tiny grace, but just because it's real don't mean it's gonna work._

 

The day had been interesting, to say the least. Everything had been going so well up until the end of that dance- Lance had gotten caught up in the moment, could feel his cheeks heating up with a blush, and Keith had noticed. Why else would he freak out and leave like that? 

Not that the rest of the day had been horrible- far from it, actually. They had had lunch in a small inn, seen some random touristy things like war bases (which were much less impressive than Lance had imagined; as it turned out, human history was just as boring as merpeople history), and he had even gotten a loud laugh out of Keith when he had tried to lean against a pillar and completely missed. There was still something off after the incident, though. While Keith wasn’t completely closed off like he was at first, Lance could tell he had thrown up a wall. He had no idea how to get the easy familiarity they had had during the dance back, how to get through to him. It sucked. 

It didn’t help to think too much about it now though, so Lance just had to roll with the punches. In the meantime, as they rode back to the palace in the carriage, he might as well have some fun.

He turned to Keith and gave him his best _let me try let me try let me try_ face. After a moment where he looked at him questioningly, he seemed to get the message and passed the reins to Lance. It was a mistake he would regret for the rest of his life. As soon as the leather straps were in his hands, Lance stirred up the horse enthusiastically with a telepathic _Giddy up!_

Now, that was how the characters had done it in all the human books he had read. In hindsight, he probably should have known not to believe everything you read, but then again hindsight is kind of useless. Anyway, as it turned out, horses can run very, very fast- much faster than the fast Keith had been going earlier. He discovered that fact the hard way as the horse took off at top speed down the road, Keith screaming out a string of curses along with a barely intelligible “YOU- ARE- THE _WORST_ \- DRIVER- _EVER!”_

Lance was eventually able to slow the carriage down once they were closer to the palace, Keith noticeably green in the face. Sweet revenge. It was only as they passed through the gates that he realized tomorrow was his last day. His last chance. In order to break through the barrier Keith had put up between them, Lance would have to plan something extra awesome and romantic to sweep the unsuspecting prince off his feet. The only question was _what?_

*****

Keith hated his brother. This was all _his_ fault. Shiro could have just taken Lance on a tour of the kingdom himself, could have let him stay at the palace and take a peaceful walk along the shore. But no, apparently the universe hated Keith too much for that. Instead, he was stuck in his room attacking a spot on his knife with a cloth and resolutely ignoring any _feelings_ that may or may not have taken up residence around his heart.

His brother’s most recent and heinous crime had occurred when Keith had been on his way back to his room after the tour. Shiro had stopped him by putting a mechanical hand on his shoulder. 

“Look, Keith, I know it isn’t really any of my business, but for what it’s worth. . . I think you should forget about that guy who may or may not have saved you. If you keep chasing a ghost, something amazing might just pass you by.”

Keith had frowned at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

He had grinned knowingly then, as if he was in on some joke that Keith didn’t get. “Lance seems like a good guy. You’re pretty lucky he likes you so much.”

Then he had just walked off, the bastard. Drop a bomb like that and leave before the fallout, a classic Shiro move. It had taken a minute for the meaning of his words to fully sink in and by then Keith was sure he was beet red. His brother was being ridiculous- they had only known each other for two days, not nearly enough time for anything like _that_ to be crossing _anyone’s_ mind.

It definitely hadn’t crossed Keith’s. That would just be silly and naive. He had never ever thought about it, would never. What a stupid accusation. Ridiculous. 

Keith was drawn out of decidedly not thinking about it by a loud tap on the glass door to his balcony. He set down the polishing cloth on his bed and stood up slowly, knife in hand. What kind of idiot assassin would make deliberate noise before entering? Must be some sort of amateur. Keith decided that how skilled the assassin was was irrelevant and crept to the side of the door, blocking himself from view. 

He took in one deep breath. 

He yanked open the curtain and charged out the door.

He discovered:

Lance, sitting on the railing of his balcony, silent shrieking at the sight of his knife and nearly falling off in shock. 

Keith clutched at his heart, breathing out a loud “Jesus _Christ,_ Lance. What the _fuck_.”

At least he had the decency to look sheepish. 

“I thought you were going to _kill me_. I was about to kill you! What the hell are you doing here?” he ranted, letting his knife arm drop to his side. Lance’s face brightened at his question and he proceeded to make a gesture that even Keith, who was definitely not good at charades, knew and understood: _Come with me._

Keith complied. As soon as he nodded, Lance grinned and pulled him to the side of the balcony by the wrist. Just over the railing was something Keith hadn’t really noticed before: a thick patch of ivy that had grown up the side of the castle wall, right next to that balcony. It must have been how Lance had gotten up there and he assumed that it was his escape plan as well. Keith made a mental note to have it taken down another day, just in case a real assassin came knocking. 

Lance swung himself over the edge and grabbed a thick vine, gesturing encouragingly at Keith who, not one for hesitation, followed closely behind. It didn’t take long to reach the ground, but the process was pretty thrilling; dropping from that height was bound to hurt, and not in a reversible way. Lance led him down towards the beach and along the water, until the sand faded into mud, then into grass. 

They were far away from the palace now, somewhere Keith hadn’t been for a long time: the lagoon. He and Shiro used to play here when they were kids because it had always seemed magical, with the weeping willows and the whispers of crickets. Almost separate from reality, not of this world. Ethereal. 

A small wooden boat was floating in the water and Lance walked towards it, stepping in carefully. He held out a hand to steady Keith as he stepped in, who picked up the oars despite Lance’s protests. Winning arguments was fairly easy when you were the only one who could talk. 

As he rowed out into the centre of the lagoon, he stared at Lance, wondering why on earth he had brought him out here. “Uh, any destination in mind?”

Lance, who had been looking distractedly up at the stars, brought his attention back to Keith at his question. He shrugged with an easy smile, then pointed at Keith as if to say, _Wherever you want, I guess. You know this place better than I do._

Keith wasn’t sure how Lance had even known about the lagoon, but he definitely wasn’t complaining. Crickets sang like music all around them and the soft golden glow of firefly light made the edges of Lance’s figure undefined and hazy. As he looked at the boy sitting across from him, it was as if the spark he had felt when they were dancing caught- something within him just clicked, those dumb feelings expanding in his chest until they were almost suffocating. 

It was an accident, though, he would have assured anyone who would listen. It wasn’t his fault! What was he supposed to do about it when Lance was smiling so uncharacteristically shyly at him, warmth emanating from his expression? It wasn’t his fault at all- it was entirely Lance’s. He just had to show up out of nowhere and change everything.

Another voice in his mind began to protest that he wasn’t being entirely honest with himself. Lance hadn’t, in fact, changed everything. Everything was the same. His world hadn’t been turned upside down- it was decidedly upright. All Lance was doing was giving him a choice, something he barely had as a prince. This was a chance to do something, have something amazing. He was inviting him to shake his world up a bit, if he wanted to. 

Boy, did he ever want to.

But he had only known Lance for under two days, if what they had even counted as knowing someone. Technically, Keith barely _knew_ the first thing about Lance, so. . . why was he so drawn to him? Why did he keep letting him drag him along by the wrist?

_I’d like to know him._

And there it was, the thing that all his thoughts about Lance always came around to: the notion that they were on the cusp of something special, something that rarely happened and would never happen again if they let it slip away. A warm, flickering something that crackled whenever their eyes met. An insistent something that made his heart flutter when Lance winked, made his breath catch when he titled his head back in that ridiculous silent laugh. A possibility.

Keith shook his head, trying to dispel the strange, hopeful thoughts from his mind. He scrabbled for something normal he could do, something mundane that would cut through the surrounding silence that seemed to have a weight of its own. 

“Do you miss your siblings?” he blurted, pulling the oars through the water a little more forcefully than was necessary. 

Lance blinked, then nodded slowly, a pained look crossing his face. 

Oh god. If Lance had really been on a shipwreck, and he was the only one to wash up on shore, did that mean-?

Keith gulped. “Are they- I mean, are they still. . . alive?”

Lance’s expression cleared and he laughed just a little as he nodded again- Keith had probably been sporting the most awkward worried face on the face of the planet. He breathed a sigh of relief; he was not good at condolences, knew what it felt like when someone tried to stumble through them but just _didn’t understand_. It had been that way awhile after he and Shiro’s parents had died. He tried not to think about it too much.

Keith felt the silence creeping in again around them. He knew he wasn’t making very good conversation, but he was also determined not to close himself off again. He could do this. He steeled himself, hoping that he wasn’t about to royally fuck this up.

“Listen, Lance, I’m. . . I’m really glad I found you on the beach. It’s been cool hanging out with someone who isn’t Shiro, and I just- well, thank you, I guess,” he said. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. He stared at his hands as he rowed, too scared to look up and gauge Lance’s reaction. 

Finally, though, he couldn’t bear the not knowing, so he forced his eyes up to meet Lance’s. 

_Is he. . . blushing??_

It was barely there, but yes, Keith was certain, there was definitely pink rising across his cheeks and ears. Lance was just staring at him, eyes wide, mouth slowly finding a disbelieving smile.

Keith tended to trust his instincts. He made most of his decisions within split seconds, based on the pull of his gut, a sureness deep within. And in this moment, everything was honed in on Lance. All he could think about were the crinkles at the corners of his eyes, the light dusting of freckles across his nose. 

Suddenly, the oar caught on a rock and the boat lurched forward, sending Lance and Keith sprawling in the boat. He managed not to fall directly on top of Lance, but quickly realized that he was now suspended right over his face. The flames that had flickered into life around his heart burned, urging him on. He didn’t think. He just moved. 

Keith let the squeezing around his heart slowly guide his hand up to Lance’s cheek. He watched his eyes widen a fraction, saw them flicker briefly to his lips. Keith’s eyes slipped shut. He leaned forward.

His world was promptly turned upside down, although, just his luck, not in the metaphorical way. In the cold, dark, underwater way. 

All of a sudden, Lance and the lagoon were far, far away. It was storming and gigantic waves were closing over his head, pushing him down, down, down. The world was silent, too silent, the clouds making the ocean pitch black. His lungs were burning, he was going to need to breathe soon, but he was sinking, his screams were being reduced to bubbles, he was _drowning_ and-

A pair of arms crossed over his chest, pulling him up. His head broke the surface and suddenly he was breathing, taking desperate gasps of air as he clung, shaking, to the body pulling him towards the shore. He barely registered that said body belonged to Lance as solid ground materialized behind his back. 

Keith coughed and hacked and tried slowly to calm his breathing. He stared resolutely at a patch of grass in front of him, unable to meet Lance’s eyes after his strange freak-out. This was all for nothing, however, as when he looked up the breath was once again stolen from his lungs by the most overwhelming déjà-vu he had ever experienced. 

There was Lance, leaning over him, worried expression shifting to relieved grin when he saw that Keith was okay. At the same time, there was the strange, white-haired boy who he had nearly forgotten about now, smiling that same smile on the beach what seemed like a lifetime ago. 

He let Lance help him to his feet and reasoned that he must be imagining things. But as much as he tried, he couldn’t forget the uncanny resemblance between the two as they walked, shivering, back to the castle. 

_It couldn’t be the same boy. That would be impossible. Right?_

*****

_Well,_ thought Lance, _that was a disaster._ It seemed like he couldn’t do anything right. He had tried dancing in the square, which had been going well until Keith had rushed off. Then it was lunch, during which he had spilled cider all over himself after Keith had tried to start a conversation by saying “So. . . do you believe in mermaids?” And _then_ , just when he thought Keith was actually about to kiss him, the boat had tipped and they had nearly drowned. 

To make matters worse, he had now receded back into silent mode. Luckily the original barrier didn’t seem to have returned, but Keith was still very quiet. Lance could only imagine that it was because he was feeling awkward and just wanted to be alone- which was fair seeing as he had nearly just drowned. Still, it also meant that Lance was making him feel awkward, the exact opposite of his goals, so that sucked.

Once they arrived back at the castle, the maids came rushing forward and wrapped the two of them up in towels and blankets. Lance figured the least he could do after everything that had happened was to be a gentleman and walk him to his room. Then he would throw in the towel for the night, literally, and try his best to fix everything tomorrow. Keith was probably more than a little tired of his company anyway.

To his immense surprise, however, as soon as the maids were out of earshot, Keith began to giggle. Confused, Lance shot him a questioning look, which only made him laugh harder. 

“We just fell into a fucking pond- the boat actually tipped, how did that even _happen_ \- this has been- the strangest god damn day, I cannot believe that just happened- and _then_ \- you had to rescue me- like some sort of damsel in distress- just, oh my god,” said Keith between heaving gasps of laughter, hand dragging down his face as though he was embarrassed. Lance didn’t really know what to do, was just caught up in the relief that _Keith didn’t hate him,_ so he just laughed along with him, if a bit incredulously.

Keith was full on bent over now, hand on Lance’s arm to keep himself upright. The air was cleared once again- it was easier to breathe. Weight lifted off his shoulders.

The walk to Keith’s room was spent giggling and nudging each other’s shoulders “accidentally”- Lance was still surprised at this sudden turn for the better. When they reached his door, Keith turned towards him, seeming to consider something. Lance’s gaze caught on the little furrow of his brow, the way his eyes narrowed in what seemed like. . . determination? Actually, he looked a lot like he did in the boat when-

It was at that moment that Lance’s brain short-circuited, as Keith, who still managed to look gorgeous with wet clothes hanging limp on his body and damp hair sticking in different directions from the towels, leaned in and kissed his cheek. 

He was barely able to process this new development, as Keith, red-faced, pretty much slammed the door in his face with a high pitched “GOOD NIGHT!”

Lance left that spot after about ten minutes, once he had regained the ability to move.

*****

_“Haggar. Where is my son?” asked Zarkon._

_“He’s waiting outside. Shall I let him in?”_

_Zarkon nodded. A slim, lilac figure- another cecaelia- glided in effortlessly, easy smirk painted across his face. He had long, dazzlingly white hair and bright yellow eyes. He was Prince Lotor, heir to nothing; that is, if their plan continued to go haywire. Haggar and Sendak had only barely managed to flip that boat in time._

_“Haggar tells me you have a task for me?” drawled Lotor offhandedly, paying more attention to the mirror behind his father in order to tame a wayward strand of hair._

_“Yes- it seems young Prince Keith is more easily charmed than we thought. He nearly kissed the merprince twice only today. I need you to intervene,” ordered Zarkon, fixing Lotor with a snarl that clearly stated that this matter was to be taken seriously._

_Lotor nodded and took the yellow shell brooch out of Haggar’s hands. It glowed as she began to chant._

*****

Keith didn’t know what to do. No matter what he did, his thoughts always seemed to circle back to Lance. It was like he had set up residence in his brain permanently. It was impolite. Getting annoying, in fact. 

Ugh. Why did he have to be so _frustratingly pretty?_

_“I think you should forget about that guy who may or may not have saved you. If you keep chasing a ghost, something amazing might just pass you by.”_

Keith flopped back onto his bed with a groan. He was starting to think Shiro was right. Lance made his heart feel funny, made him feel things he didn’t want to think too much about in case he was never able to face him again. Today had been incredibly fun, and he felt more like himself than he had in weeks. Any fleeting crush he had had on the mystery boy couldn’t compare to what he was feeling now. Besides, he would probably never see him again anyway.

A knock on his bedroom window. He grinned to himself, already striding towards the balcony. 

“Lance, come on, once was kinda charming, I’ll admit, but twice is a bit overkill.”

It wasn’t Lance on his balcony. It was a boy with white hair, pointed ears and strange blue markings under his eyes. 

“Hello mullet man,” he said, in an impossibly familiar voice. Keith couldn’t move; he was in shock, there was no way this was happening.

The boy strode forward faster than he had ever seen a human move, then he felt his chin being tilted up and-

Lips pressed onto his own, and the world blurred.

*****

_Tap._

_Tap tap._

_tAPTAPTAPTAPTAP._

Lance stretched slowly and glared at his window. _What the hell kind of bird wants to get in so badly? And why so EARLY IN THE MORNING?_

He trudged over to the window, ready to silently tell off whatever had interrupted his beauty sleep, when he saw two familiar figures leaning on the rocks in the sea below. Hunk and Pidge waved up at him enthusiastically and he couldn’t help but grin- it felt like it had been much longer than two days since he last saw them. 

Rushing back into his room, much more awake now, he grabbed the outfit Rachel had left out for him, threw it on as fast as possible, then sprinted down to the beach to see his friends. 

“BRO!” shouted Hunk, enveloping him in a bone crushing hug. “Congrats! I mean, not that we ever doubted your charms or anything-,”

“I certainly doubted them,” interrupted Pidge. “I can’t believe it only took you two days to get him to propose to you.” 

Lance froze. He stared at them blankly. _Propose??? Like, as in, marriage? As in getting married??_

Pidge frowned at his expression, instantly skeptical. “You _do_ know that Prince Keith announced earlier today that he’s getting married, right? It’s all the fishermen have been talking about. I figured you’d be the first to know?”

Lance was still confused. 

Pidge’s eyes widened and Hunk’s face softened with concern. “Unless. . . you’re not the one he’s marrying? It _did_ seem a bit soon. . .”

It took him a second to finally put the pieces together. Keith was getting married today. He didn’t know about it. Lance had definitely not been proposed to, was not the one he was marrying. So who _was?_

With that, Lance turned on his heel and sprinted back towards the castle, ignoring Hunk’s worried cries of “Lance? Buddy, what’s going on??” He wanted answers and he wanted them _now._

Lance burst through doors and ran down halls and corridors that seemed to blend together until he reached the throne room. Keith, Shiro, and- some _guy,_ were talking inside. Lance ducked behind a pillar as silently as possible and strained his ears to listen.

Shiro’s voice. “Keith, I’m not saying I’m not- _happy_ for you or anything, but don’t you think you’re rushing into this a bit?” 

“Time doesn’t matter. Lotor and I are in love. Why should we wait?” Lance’s heart jumped into his throat. He felt sick.

“But, Keith, tonight?? No offence, but you and Lotor have only known each other properly for a _day._ I’m just suggesting you take a bit more time to think things through.”

Lance poked his head around the side of the pillar in time to see Keith shrug off the hand Shiro had placed on his shoulder.

“Well, I’m just suggesting you leave us alone. You can’t tell me what to do, Shiro. You can try to replace Mom and Dad as much as you like but you’re not them. I know what I’m doing. _”_

Lance stared in shock, still not quite able to believe what was happening. Shiro looked stricken and hurt as Keith and this “Lotor” guy walked together arm in arm towards the door. He managed to catch a glimpse of their faces as they passed and while Lotor looked smug, Keith looked. . . utterly expressionless. Empty, except for a strange yellow gleam to his eyes. _Probably just a trick of the light._

As soon as the door swung shut behind them, Lance slid down the side of the pillar with an audible _thump_ as he hit the ground. He was surprised to find that he didn’t feel surprised or sad, just. . . hollow. Of course. He had been so stupid, how could he have let this happen? Of course he had imagined the something he thought might be between them. Of course Keith would never fall in love with him. He had been so _blind-_

“Lance?” 

It was Shiro.

_Shit._

“Lance, are you okay? I’m so sorry about that, I don’t know what’s gotten into him. It’s like he was looking right through me, like he didn’t even _see_ me. . .” Shiro sighed and offered Lance his prosthetic arm to help him up. He accepted it. 

“I really am sorry. I thought. . . well. I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looked at you, Lance.”

And then it was too much, Shiro’s words hitting him like a punch in the gut. His chest seized up with the sudden unfairness of it all, hot tears threatening to start streaming down his face. Then he was running. Out of the throne room, back down the hallways and corridors and back down to the beach, where Hunk and Pidge were waiting with open arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry?? It's the little mermaid, guys, it had to happen.
> 
> Thanks once again to everyone who has read, commented, bookmarked and left kudos on this fic. You're all awesome!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOSH you all are the sweetest, thank you so much to everyone for the comments, kudos, bookmarks, and for reading, obviously! This is pretty much the last chapter (and it's a bit longer than the others oops), the seventh will be an epilogue of sorts and will probably be posted next week, so look forward to that!  
> Enjoy!

_True affection floats._

_True affection sinks like a stone._

 

Lance spent hours just sitting on the shore with Hunk and Pidge, getting caught up on everything that was happening back home. Apparently Allura was pissed as all hell and had sent out several search parties to look for him. 

If only an angry sister was his biggest problem. 

“There’s gotta be. . . some kind of loophole, there’s gotta be _something we can do,”_ insisted Hunk. “We can’t just sit around here and do nothing!”

Pidge raised an eyebrow at him. “We’ve been doing precisely that for the past four hours, Hunk, it’s only _now_ that you get a sense of duty?”

Lance shook his head at both of them. As much as he appreciated their determination, it was over. He had signed the contract, Zarkon had made it pretty damn clear it was binding, and he was going to appreciate his last few hours of not being a freaking polyp with his friends, damn it! It may well be the last thing he would ever have control over. 

He turned away from their stares, unable to stand the blatant pity in their eyes. He couldn’t believe that Keith was actually getting married today. And to a guy he _just met_ , which, alright, may sound a bit hypocritical, but Lance had only been hoping for a _kiss_ , okay, marriage was a whole other level! 

His moping was promptly interrupted by a voice calling his name from across the beach (why couldn’t he just wallow in peace for once?). It was Shiro. Again.

“Lance! LANCE! God, I’ve been looking all over for you! The wedding cruise is about to leave, I thought you might want to say goodbye, and to be honest you might very well be the only person able to knock some sense into my brother, he’s certainly not listening to me, and-,”

He stopped dead. His jaw dropped, his eyes wide and fixed on Hunk and Pidge, whose tails were gleaming in the sunlight.

Pidge waved awkwardly. “Uh, hey. You must be Keith’s brother? Prince Shiro?” 

Shiro looked as though he was about to faint. “You’re- but that’s- that’s impossible-,”

“Not really, no. I’m Pidge, this is Hunk. Friends of Lance’s. It’s uh. . . nice to meet you, I guess?” 

“You’re _mermaids?”_

Hunk intervened there, indignant. “Hey, whoa man, mer _man_ and mer _person,_ okay? Easy mistake, we’ll forgive you the first time but we as a species are more than a little tired of being generalized. Not all merpeople are mermaids, okay dude? Just for you to keep in mind in future.”

Shiro stared wordlessly at the three of them, then, regaining his composure, turned on Lance. “I would say you’ve got a lot of explaining to do, but seeing as you’re _incapable of that_ , I’ll have to ask your friends here what exactly is going on.”

Pidge and Hunk blinked, looked at each other, narrowed their eyes and played a rapid fire game of rock-paper-scissors. Hunk won, whooping, while Pidge sighed and pushed their glasses further back onto their nose. 

“Alright, fine, but I’m only giving you the abbreviated version. Lance here is not normally unable to speak- actually, you’ve been privileged, he usually never shuts up.” Pidge ignored Lance’s glare and continued. “He’s the prince of merpeople and his sister Allura is about to be coronated. She has this stupid rule about humans being dangerous and not to go near them but Lance is a little shit so he goes against that at every turn. He saw Keith on the boat that one day, thought he was cute, rescued him when he went under and convinced himself it was true love. Made a deal with a messed up evil guy, who turned him human in exchange for his voice, which he put in a yellow shell brooch thing. If Lance could get Keith to kiss him in three days then he could stay human for the rest of his life and get his voice back, but if not he basically gets turned into a kind of seaweed creature in the evil guy’s garden. Make sense?”

Lance watched, almost a little guiltily, as Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to process the whole thing. In doing so he seemed to realize something, as he looked up at them, frowning. 

“Wait, so the mystery rescuer he was so hung up on was actually Lance? But that doesn’t make any sense, he says that this Lotor guy is his rescuer, that’s his whole reason for marrying him.” 

Lance jumped to his feet, indignant and making angry motions towards himself in an attempt to communicate _What the heck that was ME, I RESCUED HIM HOW DARE-_ wait, the mystery rescuer that he was so hung up on? Ha! Keith had had a crush on him! Well, not that it mattered now: Keith didn’t even realize that it was Lance who had rescued him. _Priorities, Lance, priorities._

Shiro made a calming motion with his hands. “I know Lance, I know, I believe you, this whole thing is totally weird, but I believe- Wait, Pidge, did you say yellow shell brooch?”

Pidge nodded.

“Lotor, he was wearing one. Could he have Keith under some sort of. . . merpeople spell using Lance’s voice? That would explain why Keith is acting so weird.” 

Pidge looked over at Hunk, their resident magic expert. He scratched the back of his neck, considering. “Well, it’s possible, but Keith would have to be pretty close to in love with Lance for it to work. Did his eyes look any different? Maybe some kind of coloured sheen?”

_A strange yellow gleam to his eyes._ Lance tapped on Hunk’s shoulder, nodding vigorously. _Yes, yes I saw it! It was there!_

Shiro seemed to agree, as he described the same gleam that Lance had noticed. 

Pidge frowned, deep in thought. “I can’t get that name, Lotor, out of my head. . . It sounds so familiar, but I can’t remember- OH! Oh my god, I know where it’s from! He’s Prince Lotor, Zarkon’s son! That’s the messed up guy, by the way, Shiro. He’s purposely trying to screw you over, Lance, this was never a fair deal- they’re sabotaging you! We have to stop them.” 

The four of them hunkered down and, as fast as they could, came up with a plan to _stop that wedding._

*****

_Here we go,_ thought Lance as Shiro snuck him around the large crowds in front of the boat and towards the cargo bay. Their plan was far from foolproof- in fact, it would be a miracle if anything went properly, as it was all hinged on Keith. 

If Keith wasn’t interested, the whole thing would fall apart. Everything rested on the assumption that Keith liked Lance, which was a bit flimsy for Lance’s liking. 

If he was being _completely_ honest, their plan was barely even a plan. Hunk and Pidge were on their way to get Allura and see if she could help if something went wrong. Lance would hide in the cargo bay until the ship left the dock while Shiro delayed the ceremony enough to give him time to get to the upper deck. Once there. . . improvise. 

They reached the cargo bay pretty quickly, which was not filled with much of anything on this trip. Lance figured that made sense as the trip was only for a wedding- they weren’t transporting much of anything. 

Shiro gave him a nod as Lance settled down beside a porthole, then climbed up the ladder to get in his official position beside his brother. Unfortunately, the lack of cargo made the area large and dark and empty, Lance completely alone. He looked out, shivering, and watched as sailors untied ropes and pushed the ship out to sea.

What if he had completely misread every interaction they had ever had? Keith _had_ had a crush on his rescuer, but that wasn’t because he was Lance, that was because he had almost died. And then there was the dancing, which hadn’t ended well. Not to mention the flipping boat- had Keith even been about to kiss him, or did Lance just _hope_ he was about to? He had kissed him on the cheek that one time, but Keith had been delirious and giggly from just about drowning again and probably wasn’t thinking straight. 

Ugh. 

_Please, please, please let this go right._

A horn blew from above him, the signal that the boat was officially on its way: his cue to get going. Lance tried his best to quash his nerves as he stood up, brushed himself off and headed towards the ladder that lead to the upper deck. He climbed, one rung at a time, until he reached the trapdoor. 

One deep breath. He opened it. 

The deck was packed with people, all dressed up in fancy clothing. They were all smiling politely, although it was obvious that they didn’t care much about the wedding going on in front of them. Speaking of which: there was Keith, looking unfairly gorgeous in his sailor-like suit, hands intertwined with Lotor’s. His heart gave a painful lurch at the sight of them together. Lance had been too upset to notice before, but taking a good look at him, he could see the resemblance between himself and Lotor- before he had been turned human, at least. The same pointed ears, white hair (although his was long and tied up behind his head in a bun) and blue markings under the eyes. Lance wouldn’t be surprised if he had changed his appearance to better match what he had looked like when he rescued Keith. The two of them were standing in front of an old, withered man, who was conducting the wedding. 

“And do you, Lotor, take Prince Keith to be your lawfully wedded husband?” asked the man.

Then, Lance’s own voice: “I do.”

The old man nodded. “Then I hereby pronounce you-,”

Shiro’s voice from off to the side interrupted. “Wait a second! There are still many, uh, traditions to be upheld before they can be married!” Lotor turned towards him and growled. 

“What else is there? We’ve done the traditional twirls, the traditional chant, the traditional drumming. . . I’m beginning to think you’re making these up!”

Lance scowled, climbed out onto the deck properly, and waved at Shiro to get his attention. The older prince nodded, gave him a thumbs up and proceeded to ruin the wedding. 

Shiro had told them not to worry, that he would get the shell to him one way or another. What Lance hadn’t been expecting was for Shiro to run forward and full on _tackle Lotor to the ground._

He heard his own voice shout “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Keith, sweetheart, get your psychotic brother off of me!” 

Keith, his expression unchanged, began trying to pull his brother off of Lotor. The three of them wrestled unceremoniously on the floor for a few minutes, the old man running away from the brawl. Shiro, however, was victorious, and with a shout of triumph, he yanked the yellow shell off of Lotor’s suit and chucked it in Lance’s direction. 

It seemed that time slowed as the entire audience watched, gaping, as the shell sailed over the heads and shattered on the ground at Lance’s feet. He, too, stared unblinkingly as that wispy blue light floated upwards, towards him and into his mouth, where it settled comfortably back into his throat. Lance coughed, then looked up, to where Keith was rubbing his eyes in disbelief. 

Then, he said something very simple that he hadn’t been able to in a very long time: “ _Keith!”_

*****

Keith was free. When the boy had kissed him on the balcony, he had lost all control of himself, and not in a good way. He could only watch as things happened around him, as words flew out of his mouth, as he nearly married a complete stranger. All he could think about the whole time was Lance, wondering where he could possibly be.

Now though, this spell thing seemed to have broken. When he heard Lance says his name for the first time his heart nearly expanded out of his chest.

“Lance?!” he marvelled, unable to contain a smile from breaking out across his face as he jogged towards him. Before he was able to reach him, however, Lance was turning on Lotor with a livid look in his eye. 

“ _Bitch,”_ he declared, crossing his arms in front of his chest. And then Keith was laughing, because of course if Lance had a voice that’s what he would say, of course he’s even more of a drama queen, of _course._ Lance’s attention snapped back to him, taken aback but grinning at his reaction. 

Keith crossed the rest of the distance between them and fisted a hand in Lance’s shirt, who stared at him in mock seriousness. 

“So Keith, I’m not sure if I’ve made it obvious enough over the past few days, but I sorta have a ginormous crush on you. Just thought I should let you know,” he said.

“You’re an idiot,” responded Keith, then started to pull him down to kiss the smirk off his face. Unfortunately, he was once again unable to go through with it, as Lance was suddenly slipping out of his grasp, stumbling and falling onto the ground as Keith could only stare at was happening in front of him. 

“Sunset,” gasped Lance, as his hair transformed from brown to white, as his ears became pointed, as blue markings appeared beneath his eyes. None of that was quite as relevant to Keith, however, as the long blue tail that had taken the place of his legs. 

“You’re- you’re a merman??!”

Lance grimaced, trying in vain to play it off. “Y’know, I was going to tell you, but then I remembered that I was literally incapable of speech, so maybe cut me a bit of slack-,” 

“HA!” shouted Keith, turning towards Shiro and pointing at Lance. “I TOLD YOU IT WAS FUCKING MERMAN THAT RESCUED ME! GET WRECKED I WAS RIGHT!” 

“Not exactly the reaction I was expecting but I’ll take it,” muttered Lance, but Keith was no longer paying attention to him. Instead, he was staring at Lotor, who had pressed a fist to his mouth in mock distress. 

“Oh dear me. It seems you’re too late to save him. It’s a _shame,_ truly, but I do think it’s time for Lance and I to be going,” he drawled, his voice much deeper and accented. His tanned skin faded back to purple and his eyes shimmered a bright yellow. Once again, he moved with inhuman speed and had grabbed Lance by the arm within the span of a few seconds, dragging him across the deck of the ship, towards the edge.

Keith snapped out of his shock when Lance shouted his name, running after them. He grabbed hold of Lotor’s shoulder, but the man shook him off easily; his new form was clearly much stronger than his human one. He could only watch as Lotor leapt over the side of the ship and into the water, Lance with him. He sprinted to the railing after them, saw Lotor’s legs turn into tentacles, and then they were gone, only bubbles remaining. 

“LANCE!” he screamed, heart beating more frantically by the minute. He planted his hands on the railing, got one leg over and was about to dive in after them when he felt two hands grab his arms and pull him back. One was warm skin, the other cold and metallic: Shiro.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” asked his brother, shaking him by the shoulders. “You can’t go swimming after them, he has _tentacles_ , you’ll never catch them like that! Patience yields focus, Keith, if you don’t think you’ll never be able to save him.”

Keith stared at Shiro helplessly, felt the sudden crazed urge to jump into the water fade, replaced rapidly by a cold, panicked hopelessness. 

“I just- I can’t lose him, Shiro, not again, not Lance, we didn’t even get the chance to _know each other-,_ ” 

Shiro stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowed, obviously mulling something over in his mind. Then he lit up suddenly, a small mischievous grin making its way across his face. 

“Okay, listen. There’s a lifeboat on the side of the ship, it’ll get you there much faster. Be safe, Keith, keep a clear head.”

That small spark of hope was already enough, and before his brother could finish Keith was dashing off towards the lifeboat, throwing a “Thanks, Shiro!” over his shoulder as he started hacking at the ropes with his knife.

As he started to row away, he heard Shiro shout from above on the ship: “GO GET YOUR MAN BACK, CASANOVA!”

“NOT THE DAMN TIME TO BE A DORK, SHIRO!”

*****

_Maybe living the rest of my life as seaweed won’t be so bad?_ thought Lance desperately as Lotor dragged him along mercilessly underwater. His grip on his arm was like stone, unshakeable, his tentacles much more powerful than Lance’s tail. He could see the Leviathan skeleton in the distance, growing larger with every second. In short, he didn’t stand a chance and had basically accepted his doom. 

Zarkon, Haggar and Sendak had been waiting outside the skeleton, but began gliding forward when they spotted Lance and Lotor. The dread settling into his stomach got heavier and heavier as they got closer and closer. He would probably never see Keith again, or his sisters, or Hunk, or Pidge. He was going to spend the rest of his life as part of Zarkon’s demented collection and there was nothing he could do about it. But then-

“Lotor, unhand my brother at once!” shouted an achingly familiar voice from behind him. _Allura. Thank god._

Hope flickered to life in his chest as Lotor turned towards his sister and raised an eyebrow.

“Pleasure to see you too, highness. Do we have a problem?” he asked. Even with the distraction, Lance still couldn’t wriggle out of his grasp. Zarkon, Haggar and Sendak had reached them now; the king cecaelia laughed when Allura pointed her trident at him.

“Such a pity, the princess still has hope that she can save her brother!” he snarled, then he motioned to Haggar. Only as she began to chant did Lotor finally let go of him.

A green glow and a strange tingling enveloped Lance’s body- a similar feeling to what he’d experienced transforming into a human and back again. He saw his limbs shrink and wrinkle, the world got steadily larger around him. . . 

Helplessly, Lance watched as Allura rushed at Zarkon. 

“Turn him back, you vile creature, _turn him back!”_ she screamed, trident beginning to glow.

“Oh dear, were you not told? This contract is legally binding: the young prince belongs to me now,” he drawled, twirling around Allura menacingly like he did to Lance when they had made the deal. “Although, I would be willing to adjust, if the prize was more valuable. A trade, if you will. The heir to Altea’s throne, for example?”

Guilt ate away at Lance’s stomach. So it had never been about him- Zarkon had been planning this all along. He had known that Lance would fail, had known that Allura would do anything to protect her siblings. It had always been about getting to Allura through him and Lance had fallen right into his stupid trap.

Allura looked at Lance, her face tight with barely concealed pain. He knew her too well, and he knew what that face meant. That face was the same face he made when he was on the verge of tears. The same face he made when he was about to do something incredibly stupid. They were siblings. They had the same face. There was nothing he could do to stop her.

“We wouldn’t want you to lose more family, now would we?” enticed Haggar, offering her the contract with the golden feather quill.

Allura, tears welling at the corners of her eyes, took the quill and signed on the dotted line. 

The strange feeling returned as Lance transformed back into himself. The green glow swirled away from him and around Allura, even as Lance screamed at them to stop. His sister was already shrinking, skin turning wrinkled and green like his own had just been. Her crown and trident floated to the sea floor beside her. He swam towards her immediately, but there was nothing he could do for her as she stared at him sadly.

“Allura, oh my god, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault, it’s _all my fault_ ,” he whispered to her, before Sendak shoved him out of the way to retrieve the crown and trident. The cecaelia commander then turned and presented them to Zarkon, who let out a sinister chuckle as he took them slowly into his hands. 

Lance gulped, the dread in his stomach growing a hundred times bigger, as he placed the crown on his head.

“Bow down to your new _king_ ,” sneered Zarkon. Lance’s blood boiled. It made him want to do something incredibly stupid- it ran in the family. He lunged at Zarkon, who seemed to find his attempt amusing. He dodged effortlessly, grabbed Lance by the throat and pointed the trident at him.

“You have been quite the inconvenience to me over the past few days. It’s going to be so satisfying when I’m finally rid of you.” The trident glowed and Zarkon sneered, but something stopped him- a something that hit his shoulder, which started to ooze purple. There, floating just near the surface and holding his breath, was Keith, determination deep set in his eyes. He’d just thrown a spear at Zarkon- and connected. 

Lance wasn’t sure whether to be relieved he was there or to shout at him to _get the hell away_ , but he didn’t have time to decide on one, because Zarkon was already shouting at Lotor to “Go after him, you idiot!”

Keith didn’t seem to like the idea of getting caught underwater by Lotor, so he kicked rapidly towards the surface, where a boat was waiting. He wasn’t nearly fast enough compared to Lotor, though, who reached him easily. He grabbed Keith’s foot and brought him back down before he could take a breath. Lance could once again only watch the struggle; Zarkon’s hand was still tight around his throat. 

Keith kicked and struggled, but Lotor had the obvious upper hand- he knew how to move in the water. He wasn’t sure if Keith would be able to last much longer without air. Then, Keith twisted around, reaching into his suit and pulling out the knife he had nearly killed Lance with when he had climbed onto his balcony. Keith slashed down in the general direction of Lotor’s hands, connecting with the cecaelia’s grip on his foot. Lotor roared, relinquishing his grasp as purple blood like Zarkon’s spread in the water around them. Keith used the momentary distraction to kick him off, swimming even more desperately towards the surface.

Zarkon growled with rage and pointed the trident at Keith. Doing so, his grip around Lance’s neck finally relaxed. Lance caught his breath, waiting for the right moment. If he could just redirect it- then the trident glowed brightly, ready to fire. Praying that he was timing it right, Lance launched himself forward and grabbed the bottom half of the trident. He was no match for Zarkon’s strength, but he was still able to shift the direction of the blast slightly.

“Keith, look out!” he shouted, hoping he had time to get out of the way as he pulled down hard, aiming the trident as best he could at Lotor.

It was enough, even as Zarkon shook him off: the blast connected with Lotor, who disintegrated immediately. The current was quick to carry the ash away. It was almost as though Prince Lotor had never existed at all.

Silence. 

Lance backed away from Zarkon, who was staring at the trident, and swam towards Keith, not daring to look back and see his expression. Keith looked woozy, probably from holding his breath for so long. Lance brought his face the rest of the way up to the surface. While Keith caught his breath, Lance spared a glance downwards to where Zarkon was still floating.

Even from a distance he could tell that he was seething- he wouldn’t be surprised if the water around him began to boil. Things, of course, only got worse from there- the trident began to glow again, this time not pointed at anyone. Instead, the magic was being used to make Zarkon _grow._

Not only was he growing, he was growing fast. Haggar and Sendak seemed to realize it wouldn’t be the best idea to stick around at this point and booked it in another direction. Lance surfaced alongside Keith to update him on their increasingly shitty situation.

“We have a bit of a problem-,” Lance started.

“What, no ‘Thanks for saving my life, Keith!’?”

“Hey, whoa, I saved your life too! We’re even! And stop distracting me, or we’re gonna be dead in a few minutes and all that mutual saving will have been for nothing.”

“Fair. Wait, why are we gonna be dead?” asked Keith, frowning.

On cue, a titan version of Zarkon rose from the water in front of them, shouting nonsense about being all-powerful as he waved the trident in the air wildly. With every sweep he created storm clouds and winds, churning the ocean.

Lance gestured at that little spectacle, and to his credit, Keith’s voice only shook a little when he said: “Yep, alright, you win, we’re doomed.”

*****

Keith wasn’t at all surprised that it only took about thirty seconds for the two of them to get separated. Amidst all the chaos, hanging onto another person was extremely difficult. One second he was holding Lance’s hand and the next he felt himself being thrown five feet in the air by a particularly huge wave. 

Alone, he swallowed down a bout of mounting panic- he couldn’t lose it, not now; they had bigger problems. Literally. He let himself float for just a second, felt a few waves bob him up and down, then swam forward, trying to find Lance. As he cut through a few of the larger waves, he tried to stay focused on his breathing, keeping it as steady as possible given his predicament. After awhile of swimming, he finally spotted him- it should have been easy, really, as he was currently the object of Zarkon’s attention. 

The gigantic creature was using the trident to make circles in the water around Lance, trapping him at the bottom of a massive whirlpool. Keith could almost feel the sea trying to resist Zarkon’s control, protesting, but its only choice was to obey and let itself to be drawn in.

Though Keith didn’t know it, below him on the sea floor lay a sunken ship once meticulously explored by Lance and Hunk. The sand and water around it were violently stirring, dislodging it from the place it had been stuck in for many years. Slowly but surely, the water’s movement made it float up, up, up, until-

It broke the surface just to Keith’s left. For a second, he just stared at it, gaping, before he got a hold of himself and took off towards it, swimming faster than he ever had in his life. Luckily, it was moving fairly slowly, so he was able to keep pace alongside it, trying to find a way to climb onboard. Then he saw them: long ropes trailing along the side of the ship. A few slipped through his hands before he was able to get a good grip on one and start pulling himself up, hand over hand.

Once on deck, he rushed all around, securing ropes and sails as best he could, hoping desperately he remembered enough from what the fishermen had taught him. When everything looked pretty much right, he rushed towards the steering wheel. It was going to be very difficult to control the ship with just one person.

He scowled as he watched Zarkon send blast after blast from the trident down into the whirlpool- Lance must have been just barely avoiding them. Keith felt panic starting to claw its way up his throat, but he couldn’t give into it- this was too important. He had to think clearly.

_Patience yields focus._

There, at the front of the ship- a broken piece of mast sticking straight out. He grinned to himself, a plan already forming in his mind. He knew what to do.

As Zarkon shouted triumphantly about all his power and how great he was and whatever, Keith steered the ship towards him. The creature didn’t see him, too focused on Lance. Closer. . . closer. . . 

He aimed the front of the ship at Zarkon’s stomach. The creature turned in shock and aimed the trident at him, but it was too late. Splinters of the broken mast pierced straight through him, stabbing him through the stomach.

Unfortunately for Keith, the impact shook the ship so violently that he lost his grip on the steering wheel almost instantly. He was thrown back into the sea, hitting the water hard. The last thing he heard before he blacked out was Zarkon’s final shriek.

*****

As Allura’s trident and crown sank back down to the sea floor, wonderful things began to happen across the ocean.

In the skeleton of a leviathan that Zarkon had made his home, hundreds of merpeople, all tricked into deals, were freed and hugged each other in relief. Particularly notable were a man and his son: one with grey hair and rectangular glasses, the other bearing a strong resemblance to one Pidge Holt. They would both have a lot of explaining to do once they returned home.

Allura, too, was freed, sighing in relief as she placed her crown back on her head and took up her trident. She immediately began swimming off to find Hunk, Pidge and Coran, who were all likely very worried about their friend. After that, she would find her brother and give him the most scathing lecture of his entire life (most of which she planned to say while holding him close to her, which might make it lose some of its effect).

Haggar and Sendak, after fleeing when Zarkon had started to grow, were never seen again. The Galra would never present a problem for Altea again.

Pidge, Hunk, Coran and Allura eventually did find Lance and Keith: Keith just waking from unconsciousness once again, Lance having pulled him to shore in the same place he had rescued him the first time. The four of them looked on from a boulder just off shore. Allura sighed as she watched her brother laugh and flirt with the human prince who had saved their lives.

“He really does love him, doesn’t he? This isn’t just another one of his stupid crushes,” she said. 

Hunk grinned at her and nodded. “I don’t think even Nyma comes close to this.” 

Allura couldn’t help but agree- Lance had been absolutely besotted with that girl, yet he had never looked at her the way he was looking at this human- _Keith_ \- right now. She knew what she would have to do.

*****

Keith opened his eyes to find Lance’s blue ones staring intently down at him. 

“He lives! Welcome back to the waking world, Keith,” he said with a wink. Talk about déjà-vu. 

“Hello to you too. You know you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do, right?” he teased, but there was something about Lance’s expression that stopped him dead in his tracks. “Hey, wait, I was just kidding, I mean I’m definitely curious as to what the fuck just happened over the past few days, but- it can wait, I mean- did I say something wrong? Are you okay, Lance?” 

Lance shook his head and laughed a flimsy laugh, averting his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine, just a little shaken up.”

Keith frowned. “Yeah, right.”

Lance looked up, confused. 

“Come on, Lance, I’ve had to guess what you mean by your facial expressions for the past three days, you think I don’t know you’re not telling me something? What’s going on?”

Lance shifted and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. With a sigh, he gave in. 

“I just. . . didn’t want to ruin it. The thing is, I doubt Allura’s gonna let me out of her sight for the next ten years. I wasn’t technically allowed to interact with humans, like, ever.” 

Keith’s eyes widened as he sat up. There was no way he could leave, not after everything that had happened. “Wait, so you mean- this is goodbye??” 

Lance’s nod was minuscule, almost small enough that Keith could have imagined it. But he definitely hadn’t, which meant this was it. This was the last time he would see Lance, possibly forever. 

Before he could think of something big enough to say, something that didn’t stick in his throat, Lance leaned forward and kissed his cheek. 

“I’m sorry, I. . . I wish it were different. Thank you. For everything.”

And just like the first time, Lance was gone, Keith left alone and feeling empty. He stared out at the sea and watched the waves crash in for a few minutes, until he felt strong enough to get up and walk away. 

For the next few days, Shiro didn’t comment on how he took five walks down the shoreline per day. It was the only way to alleviate the heavy ache in his chest, the weight of the loss of something that had barely even existed in the first place. He knew he couldn’t keep doing this forever, though- eventually he would have to resume his responsibilities as a prince, go back to the balls and banquets, marry the princess. His world would be the same bleak, boring place it had always been.

For now, though, he would keep walking down the beach. He let the waves creep up around his ankles, washing away his footprints as he looked out at the sea. Keith knew he was being stupid. He knew Lance was never going to just show up, but he still kept going. A part of him, a foolish part, just couldn’t stop hoping that Lance would suddenly come running down the beach one day, saying-

“Keith! Hey, KEITH!” shouted a voice from behind him. He barely dared to hope as he turned around, but there he was: real Lance, barreling through the waves towards the shore on _legs._

Keith stared, speechless, as Lance ran up to him and placed two hands on his shoulders to get his breath back, gasping out an explanation. 

“Allura, she- she changed her mind, we worked it out, she- used the trident to- to give legs, told me- we have her blessing- I mean, if, if you’re sure you actually want-,”

That dumb fire flared up around Keith’s heart, stronger than he had ever felt it, as he watched Lance ramble on, cheeks flushed and freckles prominent across his chest and back. He had never been surer of anything in his entire life.

So Keith didn’t let him finish.

“You talk too much,” he accused, but his soft smile gave him away. Then he placed two hands gently on his cheeks, guided him down and did what he had tried to do many times now: he kissed him. Keith’s heart melted, or maybe burned, or maybe both at the same time.

Lance kissed back like his life depended on it, which, luckily for them, it no longer actually did.

_The End_


	7. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is!  
> Endless, endless thanks to everyone who has read, commented, bookmarked, left kudos and (I just learned this is a thing when I looked at my statistics?) subscribed, it means the world to me, I can't possibly put it into words.  
> Fair warning: basically nothing in this epilogue is from the little mermaid. It's also much, MUCH longer than all the other chapters and BOY if you thought they were cheesy get ready my friend.  
> The lyrics at the beginning are, obviously, from Part of Your World (reprise).  
> Again, thank you so much. I hope you enjoy it!

_What would I give to live where you are? What would I pay to stay here beside you? What would I do to see you, smiling at me?_

_Where would we walk, where we run, if we could stay all day in the sun?_

_Just you and me, and I could be,_

_Part of your world_

 

Stripping in front of his brother and his boyfriend simultaneously was not what Keith considered to be a great start to his day.

Unfortunately, that was the predicament he found himself in the morning of Princess Allura’s coronation. Officially speaking, he and Shiro had been invited to forge new bonds of peace between humans and merpeople. Lance, however, had told him that really, he just wanted to see what Keith would look like with a tail. Not to mention he wanted to introduce him to all his friends and family.

But Keith wasn’t nervous. Why would he be nervous? That would be ridiculous. It wasn’t like he was about to meet all the people who cared about Lance most in the entire world and had to make a good impression. 

He wasn’t nervous at all, okay?

The maids had fussed over him and Shiro for at least an hour before they were allowed to head to the beach; Keith had had no idea it was possible to make clothes this fancy. They itched like absolute hell, so his already shot nerves were put even more on edge when, upon poking his head out of the water and seeing him and Shiro, Lance started giggling.

Keith gave him his best furious glare as he tugged on the sleeve of his suit self-consciously. Lance had been in Altea helping with preparations for nearly two weeks now, but no ‘Wow, nice to see you Keith, I really missed you, this is gonna be fun!’ or ‘Hey, you look really nice in that horrible itchy suit, love of my life!’. Keith was questioning why he had ever missed him. 

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just- you guys, you’re going to be underwater!” Lance lifted Allura’s trident into the air. “I’m literally turning you into mermen, you can’t be wearing clothes!”

Keith and Shiro stared at Lance for a few seconds, then at each other, horrified. _How did we not think of this??_

So now here they were, standing on the beach in nothing but their underwear (both had absolutely refused to strip those too) as Lance attempted to smother his laughter. 

“Can’t you get on with this already?” demanded Shiro, more than a little uncomfortable with their situation. Keith shook his head exasperatedly as he watched Lance try his best to keep a straight face and nod.

Once he and Shiro had waded up to about their shoulders in the water, Lance pointed the trident at Keith.

“Ready?” he asked. Keith nodded. “Alright, but just so you know- it feels really quiznaking weird.” 

Then the trident began to glow and Keith wondered, too late, if he really trusted Lance to be doing magic tricks on him. 

******

Keith should not, in fact, have trusted Lance to do magic tricks on him, if his new bright pink tail was anything to judge by. Lance insisted that it had been an accident because he hadn’t used the trident much before, but Keith wasn’t buying into that when Shiro had ended up with a gorgeous tail of pitch black. Either Lance was trying to get on Shiro’s good side or the universe still just hated him.

In any case, the colour of his tail wasn’t even Keith’s biggest problem at that moment: it was more so that he _had_ a tail, but no clue how to use it. Swimming with it was much more complicated than it looked. 

Actually, moving around was the easy bit- _stopping_ was much harder. That and changing direction. He was just in a constant state of FORWARD, his momentum driving him this way and that with no regard whatsoever for what was in his way. 

“Keith, wait, watch out, that’s a-,” Lance started, but his warning was in vain. Even if Keith had seen the gigantic outcropping of coral, he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself anyway. Luckily though, bashing his head into it stopped his momentum, so he just held tight to it while Lance laughed loudly at his suffering. 

“How the hell do you control this thing?” growled Keith, still not letting go of the coral. Lance just giggled hysterically in response. 

At this point, Shiro hadn’t tried to move yet, but had watched Keith’s attempt with a grimace. Finally, he began to swim, moving excruciatingly slowly with every flick of his tail so as not to repeat his brother’s mistakes. 

Lance watched the two of them struggle for a few minutes, apparently having the time of his life (Keith was going to kill that boy), but eventually he took pity on them both, grabbing their arms and guiding them away from the shore and towards Altea.

Now that he could focus on his surroundings instead of accidentally killing himself with a fatal blow to the head, Keith was able to appreciate just how gorgeous everything underwater was. Vibrant tropical colours painted every living creature, which included the palace made of coral that was slowly coming into view before them. Keith could only stare in awe. Why on earth had Lance ever wanted to leave this place?

“So. . .this is it,” said Lance, once they were almost at the gates. “Home sweet home.” 

Keith didn’t pay him any attention, however, because he was too busy watching as the gates opened and a woman with long, white hair just like Lance’s swam out. He fought down his rising nerves as Lance dashed towards her excitedly, leaving Keith and Shiro to float awkwardly a few feet away. 

_It was an impossible task. There were simply too many of them._

_“It’s okay Keith, you’re getting there! It’s hard to memorize names when you don’t have a face to put them to,” cooed Lance, patting Keith’s back. Keith stuck his tongue out at him. It was the day before Lance would be leaving to help the coronation preparations, which meant that this was Keith’s last chance to learn all six sisters’ names. Evidently, it wasn’t going very well; he was currently wallowing in self-pity on one of the library’s couches, laying on his stomach with his face smushed into the pillows._

_It wasn’t like Keith wasn’t trying, they were all just so similar! How was he supposed to remember six names that all had three syllables and started with A?? Let alone remember the personalities and ages to go along with them. Lance continued to rub his back soothingly- the only comfort in this moment of absolute and total failure. Even Lance’s parents had names that started with A- the final proof that the universe just liked to fuck with him on purpose._

_“Come on, you can do this. Oldest sister, about to be named queen. What’s her name?”_

“Allura,” said Keith to himself as he watched Lance drag his sister towards them. As she got closer, he became more and more certain that he was right. He had known a lot of princesses in his life, but there was no denying that this girl was ready to be a queen. She held herself with incredible grace, head high, her smile easy and warm as she approached. 

Just as Allura was rolling her eyes at something Lance had said, Keith glanced over at to his brother, who he immediately realized had noticed one other thing about her: she was absolutely beautiful. He coughed to try to cover a snicker at Shiro’s pink cheeks, at the way he ran a hand through his hair nervously. 

Shiro caught onto him though, and without even looking away from Allura, he whispered, “Listen, Keith. . . if I don’t make it out of this encounter alive. . . I’m going to need you to rule the kingdom.”

Keith snorted. “Ha, no thanks. That’s not happening.”

But Shiro didn’t laugh. When he turned to look at Keith, his eyes were filled with a terrifying mixture of fear and resignation.

“I know, I don't like it either, but it’s a monarchy, so you’re our only choice.” 

Before Keith could figure out whether or not Shiro was joking, Allura and Lance reached them. Shiro attempted a bow, but was definitely not acrobatic enough underwater for that- instead, he went too far over and started to summersault. Keith had to grab his arm and pull him back down to keep him from floating away. The princess stifled a giggle at Shiro’s mishap and Keith noticed Lance watching his sister with a strange expression on his face. 

“It’s good to finally meet you properly, Keith,” said Allura, extending a hand in his direction. “I assume the tail is Lance’s work?”

Keith stammered, momentarily losing his ability to speak; he had forgotten about that. He settled on nodding as he shook her hand. When she winked teasingly and told him it suited him, he made a silent oath to himself to never trust Lance with magic again. As he did so, Allura turned to shake Shiro’s hand as well.

“Uh, it’s a pleasure to meet you, princess,” he said, hesitating slightly before extending his metal hand with a sheepish smile.

“The pleasure is entirely mine, Prince Shiro,” she replied, seemingly unfazed as she took his arm and began to lead him the rest of the way to the palace. The expression on Lance’s face was getting more and more worrying by the second- that smirk meant he was up to something. Keith wasn’t left out of the loop for long, however, because as soon as their siblings were out of earshot, distracted with their polite pleasantries, Lance leaned over to whisper in Keith’s ear.

“Hey man, I think my sister likes Shiro.”

Keith stared at him exasperatedly. “First of all, you lost all privileges to _hey man_ me when you started dating me. Second, yeah, it’s a bit obvious that they like each other.”

And so as they swam the rest of the way to the palace, Lance began brainstorming various ways of setting them up. Keith was, of course, all for it: he wasn’t about to say no to an opportunity to embarrass his brother. It would have to be another time, though- Keith insisted that Allura have a good impression of him for at least one day before they started messing with her life.

*****

“Introducing, Prince Lance, and his Royal Consort, Prince Keith!”

Keith shuddered. This was announced embarrassingly loudly by a thin, wiry merman at the entrance to the grand courtyard where the coronation would be taking place. All the noble merpeople turned to look at them- some even _nodded knowingly_ at him. 

“Okay, yep, I totally get why you hate getting called that in my kingdom now,” he muttered to Lance, who laughed.

“See? It’s weird. Sweet revenge, babe, sweet revenge.”

They barely had a chance to speak to one another after that, however, because before they could be seated Allura swept them away to meet every other person in the room. 

It was _horrifying._ He was told he was a “nice young man for our dear prince” in a scarily suggestive tone enough to last him a lifetime. Finally, though, they escaped the grasps of an old woman who kept saying how cute the two of them were together and found their seats. The two of them were beside Shiro, in the front row, which made sense but was also a shame: there was no way to make random comments under their breath like they usually did without Allura noticing.

_It was only a few minutes into Lance’s first ceremony on land, and he was already bored. Keith didn’t know what he had expected; of course Lance wouldn’t be interested in celebrating new trading routes (at least, Keith was fairly certain that was what the ceremony was for. Or maybe it was about the new ship that was built. Or maybe. . .)._

_Keith thanked whatever gods that may exist that they had decided to sit at the back; beside him, Lance was fidgeting and tapping the side of his seat impatiently. When he noticed a few nobles look over at them questioningly, he leaned over and placed his hand over Lance’s to stop its movement._

_“Quit bouncing, it’s nearly over,” he whispered. Lance sighed, but nodded. “Besides, I don’t think the Duke making the speech can handle much more attention, that’s the closest to fainting I’ve seen anyone in a long time.”_

_Lance looked at him properly and smirked. “This coming from the guy whose unconscious ass I’ve saved from drowning three times now.”_

_Keith shoved his shoulder and shushed him- there were more than a few nobles looking now. Between this and their earlier argument (“They’re about to announce us Lance, take my arm.” “What?! No way, you take MY arm, I’m a royal prince!” “So am I, doofus. We’re in my kingdom, so I get first dibs.” “I hate you.”), it was probably becoming a readily known fact that Lance had a pretty bad influence on him._

_Keith found he didn’t care much what they thought about it, though. He and Lance giggled non-stop through the rest of the ceremony._

Lance had enjoyed rubbing the “We’re in my kingdom, so I get first dibs” line in his face way too much when they had arrived at the coronation. Needless to say, it was Keith on Lance’s arm this time.

“Please rise for the arrival of our soon-to-be queen, Princess Allura!” announced the man, and everyone rose from their seats accordingly. As he floated in place, Keith noticed a strange orchestra filled with instruments he had never seen before starting to play a soft, happy tune. Lance nudged him, nodding his head to direct his attention to where Allura had just entered. Even Keith could acknowledge that she looked stunning as she passed, draped in a shimmering lilac blouse and with her hair twisted into elaborate knots upon her head. 

When she reached the front, an old, grouchy looking man began reading from a large book and Keith was hit with a strange sense of déjà-vu. The speech went on for what seemed like hours (he could see Lance fidgeting next to him the entire time, typical) before an ornate golden crown was being placed delicately on her head. The smattering of polite applause was immediately overshadowed by Lance and his sisters screaming and hollering over-enthusiastically. Allura stuck her tongue out at them, but Keith still noticed the small, embarrassed smile she desperately tried to hide.

“Come on, let’s get out of here, that took _forever,_ ” moaned Lance, annoyed. He laced their fingers together as they swam out of their seats and back into the main entrance hall. “If I get trapped in one more conversation about the financial benefits of seahorses, I might actually puke.”

“Are you having a conversation about puking without me? Cause like if so, _ouch._ That’s totally my thing,” said a voice from behind them. Keith turned to see two more merpeople swimming towards them, one dark-skinned with an orange bandanna tied around his head, the other with short auburn hair and large, rounded glasses. They were pretty much opposite in appearance, but there was an easy friendship there that made it natural to see the two of them together. Keith recognized them from Lance’s stories: Hunk and Pidge, his best friends. 

They were terrifying.

Lance rolled his eyes at Hunk’s comment, then pulled Keith forward and said, “Hunk, Pidge, meet Keith, my prince charming, my knight in pink armour, etcetera, etcetera.” Keith punched him in the arm, which Lance conveniently ignored. “Keith, meet Hunk, my bro for life, and Pidge, our resident gremlin.”

Pidge narrowed their eyes at Lance and adjusted their glasses. “Alright. Two can play at _that_ game, Lance. Keith, great to meet you in person rather than hear Lance gush about you. He does that incessantly. On a totally unrelated note, wanna go see his secret grotto?” 

Lance scrambled forward with a desperate, “Wait, _no!_ ”, but it was too late. Hunk rubbed his hands together gleefully, then took Keith’s arm. Pidge took the other and once again he was being led away, despite Lance’s protests. 

At first he was tense, uncomfortable in the arms of these total strangers- he had to keep reminding himself that these were Lance’s friends. If they could tolerate _him_ , then there was no way they would hate Keith, everything would be _fine._ Sure enough, as they swam, the two of them began telling stories of some of the stupid stuff Lance had done before he knew him.

Hunk described how last year for Allura’s birthday there had been a crisis about what flavour of cake she would like best, only resolved when Lance had burst into the kitchen and announced that he had done secret reconnaissance spy work: he had overheard her telling Coran she hoped it would be red velvet. Only when Lance was out of earshot did Hunk admit that Lance had really just asked her, but had made him swear to secrecy. 

Then Pidge recounted the time Lance had tried to ride a seahorse like one would a horse on land. That had obviously _not_ gone well.

Keith, in turn, recounted Lance’s first experience riding an actual horse on his own.

_“LANCE WAIT YOU CAN’T JUST TAKE OFF AT A GALLOP YOUR FIRST TIME YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT SLOW!” screamed Keith, mounting Shiro’s horse as fast as possible in order to chase after his idiotic boyfriend. Lance twisted slightly in his saddle to look back at him, and interrupted his delighted whoops to respond._

_“BLUE CAN HANDLE IT, SHE AND I ALREADY HAVE A SPECIAL BOND! SHE WON’T LET ME DOWN!”_

_She probably tried her best not to let him down, but Lance fell anyway._

_He let go of the reins to give Keith a thumbs up, but accidentally tugged the other side of them too hard, sending Blue veering sharply to the left. He had of course not been expecting this, so Lance himself was sent tumbling off to the right._

_Keith froze for a second, then urged his horse on faster in a momentary panic. Momentary, specifically, because he soon heard Lance laughing from on the ground. When Keith reached him, he was already standing and patting Blue’s nose apologetically. He jumped down from his own horse, marched over and started punching him in the arm._

_Lance backed away quickly, eyes widening. “Wha- Keith, OW, stop-!”_

_Keith advanced on him and continued his attack. “You-” Punch. “SCARED ME-” Punch. “You actual-” Punch. “Asshat!” Lance grabbed his hands before he could punch him again, holding them steady as Keith struggled to free himself from his grasp._

_“Hey,” he said, softly, hesitantly. “I’m okay.”_

_Keith stared for a second, then nodded. Lance slowly released his fists to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Keith then punched him one more time, just for good measure._

Pidge giggled at that, once again ignoring Lance’s indignant squawks from beside them.

Keith began to relax. 

Eventually, they reached the grotto, and Hunk released his arm to move the new boulder blocking the entrance. Keith swam inside last and gasped: it was breathtaking. Remnants of a collection remained on the ridges of the grotto, corners of soaked pages fluttering about, pieces of shattered pottery lining the sea floor.

“Welcome to exhibit A, also known as the secret grotto, also known as the place where Lance did ninety percent of his pining. The adventures were good, the pick-up lines were not,” explained Hunk in his best tour guide voice. “As you can see, among the debris is your statue face. I think you’ll be happy to know that the rest of it has been destroyed.”

“Thank god, I looked so angry. They made me totally _stone-faced,_ ” said Keith. The three of them stared at him for a moment.

“Did you just make a pun?” asked Pidge incredulously. Hunk laughed, while Lance just looked completely shell-shocked. 

“Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?” he asked as Hunk swam forward to pick the Keith-face off the ground. 

“I guess Merman Keith is funnier than Human Keith,” said Hunk, holding the face up in front of him. “Or has Lance just been taking you for _granite_?”

Pidge grinned. “Well, despite your opinion Keith, Lance thought you looked really _marbleous_ as a statue.” 

Lance groaned at the three of them and snatched the Keith-face out of Hunk’s hands, hugging it to his chest. “I resent this, I was _young_ -,” 

“It was six months ago, noodle boy,” said Pidge dryly, floating down to sit on the stone in the middle of the grotto. Lance pouted, but didn’t protest. The conversation moved on from there, but Keith couldn’t help but be stuck on that fact as he settled and leaned against the wall- it had only been six months. That almost seemed impossible when Lance was such a vital part of his life now- he had an obnoxious habit of sticking around, constantly at his side with a lame joke and a smile.

When had Keith gotten so soft? (A small voice in his head said six months ago, but he chose to ignore it).

He couldn’t help but watch with a small smile on his face as Lance talked animatedly and excitedly with his two best friends in the world. A small, moon-shaped scar just below his eyebrow stretched whenever he smiled, and Keith watched it for a moment, remembering the sleepy haze in which he had asked Lance where he had gotten it.

_It was a warm, quiet morning. The sun was just barely peeking above the horizon, casting their room into soft pink and gold hues. Keith woke up slowly, vision blurry for a few seconds before clearing and landing on the sleeping boy in front of him. Lance’s hair was sticking up in all directions, one hand curled in front of his face on the pillow, the other tucked in close to his chest. He reached out, slowly and without thinking too much, and brushed a few strands of hair out of his face in order to see him properly. Then Keith noticed something he had never noticed before: the scar._

_Lance began to stir just then, so Keith let his hand rest on his cheek. Blue eyes stared back at him blearily, blinked a few times, then crinkled at the corners as he smiled. “Morning, gorgeous.”_

_After five months of that, every day, Keith still blushed. “G’morning.”_

_He gave Lance a second to wake up properly before succumbing to his curiosity. He stroked his thumb over the scar and asked, “Where’d you get this from? I’ve never noticed it before.”_

_Lance shifted more onto his side to see Keith better. “My scar?” he asked. Keith nodded. Lance laughed, quiet and soft, rubbed his eyes, then stared at him mock-seriously._

_“There have been many debates over the years about this, but I forever stand by that it was Allura’s fault,” he said, and Keith rolled his eyes. Of course. “Okay, so, when I was around three, they used to put on these mini-plays to keep her and I occupied while our parents were doing royal stuff. One day, they put on one that was absolutely terrifying, I don’t know what kind of person would show that to two kids- but whatever, that’s beside the point. Anyway, she had an awful nightmare about it, obviously, as we were both traumatized. I got the scar when she woke up screaming- it scared me so much I fell out of bed and cut myself on the corner of my night table.”_

_Keith frowned. “How is that Allura’s fault? She can’t control her dreams.”_

_Lance shook his head and looked at Keith like it should have been obvious. “Well yeah, but that’s not the point. I tossed and turned a lot in my sleep as a kid, so we always had these barriers made of coral around my bed to make sure I wouldn’t fall out. I don’t know how she did it, but she convinced my dad that I didn’t need them anymore purely because she knew I would hate sleeping without them. My fall was the result of her cruelty, so_ in conclusion, _it’s all Allura’s fault.”_

_“You make a fair point,” said Keith, nodding. “Still. . . it kinda suits you.” He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss directly to the moon-shaped scar. Keith took immense pleasure in the fact that he wasn’t the only one who still blushed over dumb things after five months. Then Lance grinned._

_“I can’t believe you just kissed my eyebrow.” Keith groaned and rolled away from him._

_“Shut UP, you RUINED it, I liked you better when you were MUTE-”_

The four of them hung out in the cave for awhile, and by the time they returned to the palace, Keith felt like he might have gained some real friends. As they headed back, he realized that he had gotten pretty good at the whole swimming thing- at least, he wasn’t barreling head first into the ground anymore. The pink tail that had previously betrayed him was actually working pretty well now. He figured it was only fair that he had had a little trouble at first- it had taken Lance forever to get the hang of walking. In fact, still to this day his first couple minutes after transformations were wobbly. 

Once they reached the palace, Hunk suggested they go in by the servant’s entrance rather than the front door so that they wouldn’t make their return a big deal. Keith heartily agreed; he wasn’t sure he was ready to hear the announcer say “Royal Consort” in regards to himself again, as he was still recovering from the first time. If everything went to plan, they would just slip back into the celebration without anyone ever noticing that they were gone.

Of course, everything _didn’t_ go to plan. Their undercover return was destroyed by a six-year old mermaid who the servant girls had taken a liking to. Alana. She was waiting just outside the servant’s entrance, maids giggling at her attempts to fold the laundry. As soon as her bright blue eyes spotted Lance, her face broke into a wide grin and she started pointing at him. 

Behind him, Keith heard Pidge whisper, “Shit.”

“Lance!” she squealed, rushing forward and hugging her brother around the middle. “I missed you! You haven’t said hello to me _all day_ and-” the girl stopped short, gasped, pointed, “-is that your _boyfriend??_ ”

Now, Keith had certainly been worried about meeting the older sisters, Lance’s friends, the nobles even, but at least they would probably _pretend_ to like him, for Lance’s sake. But a young girl of six? If Alana didn’t like Keith, he was doomed. Lance would never come up to the surface again, he would have to drag Shiro away from Allura, they would have to escape, stay in hiding for the rest of their lives to avoid the shame-

“ _His hair is so pretty,”_ she said. Keith melted. “It’s so long, I could braid it! Can I braid your hair?!”

Who was Keith to refuse a princess? He nodded hesitantly, then Alana grabbed one of his fingers and began to pull him along behind her. Where they were going, he wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t as if he had any choice in the matter. Hunk, Lance and Pidge followed close behind. As they passed the courtyard, Keith noticed that there were only a few nobles left hanging around- he guessed that merpeople’s celebrations must be shorter than human ones. From across the room, Allura caught his eye, saw his predicament, then winked at him. She was no help.

Eventually, Alana stopped at one door and pushed it open. They had apparently reached their destination. The door swung inward to reveal a room with several beds lining the walls, a different mermaid sister on each one. 

Just his luck.

They all swarmed them immediately, greeting Lance excitedly while asking Keith ten thousand questions, about the surface, about his tail (god damn it Lance), why his ears were so weird, whether or not he and Lance had kissed before, and were they living happily ever after yet, and-

“Alright, come on, you’re suffocating him!” came Allura’s voice from the doorway. _My saviour_. Shiro followed meekly behind, but his blush seemed to have mostly faded. Lance’s sisters retreated reluctantly, but Alana stayed firmly by his side. She was not giving up her chance at braiding Keith’s hair so easily. 

She sat him down at the edge of what he assumed was her bed, retrieved a brush and started combing it through his hair. The others began to settle sporadically across the room too: the twins, Adella and Aquata, took to weaving flowers and strings of pearls into Pidge’s hair and pulling Hunk’s fringe back into twin braids on the sides of his head. Attina and Arista, the third oldest and second youngest, made Shiro do their eyeliner for them. Lance nearly fainted when Allura succumbed to his pleas to let him braid her hair too. Keith knew it was something she hadn’t let him do in years.

_The meeting had seemed to go on forever, and when it finally ended, Keith was itching for a breath of fresh air. He stood up just slow enough that it was still polite, but pretty much booked it out of the throne room. He pretended not to notice Shiro’s exasperated gaze on his back as he left._

_Maybe he and Lance could go out on another horseback ride through the back forests, or walk down the beach before dinner, or-_

_Lance’s voice. It had taken awhile to get used to hearing it, but now Keith could pick it out of a crowd of thousands. It was coming from a small courtyard with a fountain in the centre. Lance was chatting animatedly with the red-haired servant girl, him sitting on the edge of the fountain, her kneeling in front of him. Her back was turned to allow him to finish up the braid running down her back. He tied it tightly, then she turned, thanked him, and scurried off to take care of the rest of her chores. Keith leaned against a pillar and watched him give her a friendly wave goodbye._

_As soon as Lance noticed him, he blew a kiss in Keith’s direction teasingly. “Like what you see?”_

_Keith chose to ignore that comment as he plopped himself down on the edge of the fountain next to him. He leaned back on the palms of his hands and looked at Lance, amused. “Braiding, huh?”_

_“I grew up with six sisters, okay, you learn things! I just happen to be the best at braiding out of all of them,” he said, a hint of pride in his voice as he knocked their shoulders together. “Although, Allura hasn’t let me do hers for a while, which sucks cause hers was by far the softest. I don't know how she keeps it that way.” In typical Lance fashion, he didn’t seem at all embarrassed by his apparent skill. Keith stroked his chin mock-thoughtfully, pretending to contemplate something. Lance raised an eyebrow._

_“Maybe one day I’ll let you do_ my _hair,” said Keith. Lance’s eyes lit up faster than seemed possible, excitement translating its way into his movements, making them bigger and over-the-top._

_“I’m holding you to that, Kogane!”_

Alana’s touch was surprisingly gentle as she pulled section by section of Keith’s hair back into the plait. Once it was finished, Lance wouldn’t stop boasting about how he had taught her all that she knew. Keith guessed it must look pretty nice.

That statement applied to everyone in the room now, however. No one had escaped some form of hair styling- Attina and Arista had even figured out a way to use Shiro’s fringe to prop up a flower crown. Even Lance, who had several tufty ponytails sticking up in various directions on his head, managed to look pretty. Keith had to admit he might be a little biased on that front, though.

“You know,” said Attina, from across the room, a smug look crossing her face, “this kinda reminds me of a few months ago, maybe six? My brother here woke up and did everyone’s hair, complimented me on my bun, even tucked a flower into Allura’s hair. He was absolutely _smitten_ at the time, although I never would have guessed he was pining after a human-”

“ALRIGHT, I think that’s enough, I mean it’s about time to go, isn’t it, Shiro?” intervened Lance, speeding across the room to cover his sister’s mouth at the speed of light. Shiro rolled his eyes, but still nodded.

“I hate to be that guy, and I especially hate to agree with Lance when he’s getting so magnificently roasted, but he’s right, we have to be getting home now,” he said. Allura sighed, then looked at Lance and asked if he’d be going with them or staying in Altea for the night. He grinned, which was never a good sign.

“Are you kidding? I can’t stay here when the mullet is finally working for him! That braid is not going to last very long, I assure you,” he said, winking, which lead to an immediate chorus of “Oh god, Lance, why”s and “Lance, NO”s and “WE DON’T WANT TO KNOW”s from the older siblings, Shiro included. The younger ones (luckily) just looked confused. Keith questioned, not for the first time, why he was dating such an idiot.

Allura gave them each a potion to take when they got to the surface that would transform them back _with_ clothes on; she did not trust Lance with her trident again after seeing what he had done to Keith. Before they left, he managed to remember the name of every sister and each one hugged him goodbye. He normally would have been opposed to strangers hugging him, but this felt. . . natural. Pidge, who also seemed to not be a big hugger, simply gave him a high-five, and told him that he’d better visit soon or they’d kick his ass. Hunk, however, nearly suffocated him with his hug. Lance said goodbye to all his sisters, and hugged both Pidge and Hunk, despite the former’s protests. 

Shiro shook hands with nearly everyone, even little Alana, who seemed delighted to be treated like a proper adult lady. When he reached Allura, however, he took her hand and kissed it. It was almost unbearable to watch- Keith didn’t particularly enjoy the sight of his brother’s awful flirting.

The trip back to the surface didn’t take long, but the sun was setting when their heads popped up into the air. All three downed their potions and were grateful to be clothed in simple beige shirts and pants- except Lance, whose were pink. Unfortunately, rather than embarrassed, Lance was delighted, making a comment that he rocked pink.

Shiro started walking back up towards the palace then, but when Keith began to follow, Lance grabbed his arm to make him wait. Shiro turned back to them and put a hand on his hip. “You guys coming?”

“We’re just gonna hang out for a bit, we’ll be up for dinner though,” Lance replied. Shiro shrugged and kept walking. 

The sun was all the way down now, making way for the purply darkness of night. There was no moon, so the stars shone brightly, speckled all the way across the sky. Keith and Lance sat by the edge of the water, each wave lapping at their feet. As he got sleepier, Keith rested his head on Lance’s shoulder, who had been quiet for awhile. After having methodically taken out all the little ponytails, he had stayed strangely still. That happened sometimes; Keith had learned it was best to let it be, that Lance would usually talk when he wanted to.

“Hey, Keith? We never answered their question,” he said finally, looking at him intently through his eyelashes. Keith lifted his head back up to return his gaze properly.

“There were a lot of questions all at once, you’ll need to be more specific than that,” he responded, bringing his knees up to his chest.

Lance hesitated- was he nervous? Keith didn’t think they had asked anything _that_ important. Not important enough to bring up again, anyway. 

“The one about happily ever after.”

Oh. That one.

“Do you think we are? Living happily ever after, I mean,” asked Lance, hands beginning to fidget in his lap. 

Keith looked at him- _really_ looked at him, and remembered everything that had happened in the past six months. Meeting each other, how he had seemed like such a mystery, only to realize that he was a complete dork. Then there was all the magic drama, with Lotor and Zarkon and weird seaweed people. But all that weirdness was _so worth it_ when he saw Lance running to shore to meet him. They were finally learning about each other now, about how to be together, and Keith had never been happier. He contemplated the sparks he had felt in his chest from the very beginning, how the flames now seemed to dance and glow pleasantly at all times. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind.

“Yeah. I think we are. At least, you’re my happily ever after,” he replied. Lance blushed profusely next to him, and seemed not to know how to respond in his flustered state. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Keith’s cheek, trying and failing to smother the wide smile on his face.

“You’re so cheesy, babe,” he said finally. Keith bristled indignantly and leaned away, crossing his arms over his chest as he definitely did _not_ pout.

“You’re the one who started talking about happily ever after!” 

Lance laughed, stood up and brushed some sand off of his bright pink pants. Offering Keith a hand to help him up, he said, “Well, you’re mine, too.”

Keith tried very hard to glare at him, but it ended up being a grin. He grabbed the extended hand and resisted the temptation to pull Lance violently back down to the beach. Their fingers stayed intertwined as they walked up towards the castle, and towards the rest of their lives, which would be in no way normal. But happy, of course.

Happy forever after, in fact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've worked on this fic for so long and it's made me learn so much about writing, being the longest thing I've written in my life. I'm so glad that people are enjoying reading it as much as I did writing it!  
> A couple of things: Firstly, my sister is demanding credit for helping me come up with statue puns, so you can thank her for a couple of those, shout out to her.  
> Secondly, this fic would not be what it is without the help of a really good friend of mine who has been enthusiastic about it since we came up with the idea for it. She has given constant support, feedback and good vibes that helped me make this as good as it can be and I will never be able to thank her enough for everything she has done for me.
> 
> A final note (A PS, if you will): My dear Meg, this is why I needed my laptop at the cottage. Hope you liked it too ;)


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